Your Eyes Have Seen
by Oxnate
Summary: Xander decides that Angel isn't the only guy who can wear a trench coat.
1. Chapter 1

Your Eyes Have Seen

by Oxnate

My title this time comes from the song Your Eyes Have Seen by Harry Manx. Do not own. Though I am listening to it as I write the first chapter. You should too.

Disclaimer. Do not own Highlander or Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Highlander timeline follows the series only through Modern Prometheus in Season 5. No demon Ahriman or the death that caused. No movies are considered canon however 'Highlander Reunion 2008' is if you can find it.

Summary: Xander decides that Angel isn't the only guy who can wear a trench coat.

Inspiration and banner provided by cloudleonsgurl. Inspiration from the story Don't You Hurt My Girl. Banner from Worlds She Never Walked 2. (On TTH)

* * *

Chapter 1.

"Hello! That was our touching reconciliation moment there." Xander said as Buffy walked away, ignoring him.

Buffy walked over to a frilly, pink, 18th-century gown.

"I'm sorry, it's just... Look at this." She said.

"It's amazing." Willow agreed.

Xander frowned. "I dunno. I think Angel might look silly wearing that. On second thought; yes, you should definitely get it for him." He was pointedly ignored.

The shopkeeper appeared next to Buffy and took the dress off the mannequin. "Please, let me."

"Oh, i-it's..." Buffy gushed.

But Xander lost interest suddenly. There was only one person that their group knew who had been alive in the 18th century, and it was obvious to Xander who Buffy was buying the dress to impress. He let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a growl and marched off to put his toy gun back where he'd found it. Clearly, being a big, strong soldier wasn't the way to Buffy's heart. Apparently, you had to wear a long, dark coat and have lived in the 18th century. Suddenly, a costume idea came to Xander in a fit of inspiration. A trench coat. Not at all similar to the long, dark coat that Angel wore (Xander told himself). But even if it was similar, so what? Plenty of people had been wearing trench coats for a long time before Angel ever had. And he was thinking of a very specific someone at the moment. And with access to the weapons cage, he could pull it off too. And what do you know, the trench coat in front of him was on sale. How convenient.

* * *

Xander spent that night hunched over his mother's sewing machine. The TV show never really showed _how_ Immortals were able to keep their swords inside their trench coats and the practical logistics were driving Xander to frustration. The arming sword he had gotten from the weapon cage was both real and real sharp. Xander's first effort of sewing a loop of fabric into the coat hand been sliced in two the first time he tried it. Only fast reflexes had kept him from losing a toe. He was pretty sure his parents wouldn't notice the chunk of carpeting the sword had dug out of the floor. But even if they did, he doubted they'd care.

The next effort had been leather and harder to cut. It made it to the unsharpened shoulder of the blade and held fast. Except that the tip of the sword was swinging freely still and cut through his jeans and left a small gash in his leg when he tried to walk. After bandaging his leg, he tried a third time. A leather pocket sewed into the coat where the tip hung helped hold it still and also helped distribute the weight of the sword.

Xander practiced walking with the sword yet again. He didn't get cut any more. But his shirt and his pants would occasionally catch on the blade as they swung against each other. He finally solved that by laying a strip of cloth over the blade and sewing it down each side. In the end, he looked at it and realized he'd basically made a cloth and leather sheath for the sword. But his was a good deal lighter than the one that had come with the sword and was now laying on his bed. And he'd learned a valuable lesson. It actually was possible to draw a sword from a sheath inside your coat, though not quite the way they did on the show. Some snaps or buttons would be necessary for that and Xander didn't feel like getting that crafty. He already was planning on never telling _anyone_ about his prowess with a sewing machine. If that information got out, his man-points would fall into the negative.

* * *

The next night Xander was screaming. Or trying to scream. Not that the guy in control of his body seemed to be listening or even able to hear him. But Xander was aware of and could feel everything that was happening to his body, including the fact that his back had just been raked by claws that had torn through his trench coat and the sweater beneath it and into his back. Xander's body spun and beheaded a full size demon – Xander really hoped that it wasn't another grown kid in a costume – and added one more victim for the night. Adding to mental wounds that dwarfed the physical wounds he'd just received. He had centuries of memories now. Centuries of death. Even if those deaths had been caused by someone else, _that_ someone now occupied Xander's place in the world. That when he'd caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and found he looked like the character he'd dressed as didn't really help, it only added a bit of resentment that Buffy and Willow had gone of versions of themselves and got to keep their own faces at least. And even in Xander's changed body, the killing had continued.

That he had killed Larry still sickened Xander.

Sure, Larry was a jerk and his costume had been trying to rape Buffy at the time, but Xander had been hoping for a swift kick to the balls and then for the bully to be knocked unconscious. Beheading had seemed excessive. Also excessive was the amount of blood in the jock. The human body held a lot of blood and it tended to spray everywhere when the head and body were separated from one another (also not something that was covered on Highlander).

And now Xander was being sprayed by greenish demon blood, covering up the blood splatter from Larry and some of his other victims.

The demons were surrounding him and pushing him back – away from Buffy and the others. Angel was also fighting, but he wasn't willing to kill possessed children like the person Xander had dressed as was. "Fucking kill something, boyscout!" Xander felt himself yell.

But Angel did not and soon he was subdued and Xander had a whole pile of demons on top of him. From under the pile and through some demon legs, Xander could see Spike approach a helpless Buffy. Then suddenly, the weight on his back decreased as he saw Spike come away with a brunette wig.

Xander was still helpless though under the pile of children. As they slowly got off, Xander had to watch as Buffy beat Spike up a bit before he ran away.

As soon as Spike was gone, Buffy made sure everyone was okay, including helping Xander to his feet. "You okay, Xan? Glad to see your real face again."

"You guys remember what happened?" Cordelia surmised.

"It was horrible. I was there, but I couldn't get out. I couldn't affect anything." Xander explained.

Cordelia nodded. "Yeah, but at least you had a cool accent but somehow even your other face managed to look dorky."

Before Xander could reply, Angel stepped up to Buffy. "Are you okay?" he asked tenderly.

"Yeah." she replied as they walked off together.

Cordelia was shocked that anyone could ignore her. "Hello?! It felt like I was talking, my lips were moving and..."

"Yeah, yeah. I know, Cor." Xander brushed her off too. He found his sword where it had been kicked aside, cleaned it, and checked it for damage. He then put it back in its sheath. ...And promptly cut part of the stitching out of his coat sheath. Perhaps it needed a bit more leather.

"Whatever. I guess you better get them back to their parents." Cordelia indicated the surviving kids.

"Yeah and... where's Willow?" Xander looked around. The ghost that had been berating his possessor most of the night was gone.

* * *

In all the noise and confusion of the last few minutes of battle and then getting the remaining kids home, Xander couldn't remember if his wounds had healed before or after the spell ended. And they _had_ healed. His back barely even showed pink scars where the claws had deeply scratched him. An examination of his body had found numerous other small wounds (that had healed to pink) that he had never even been aware of.

So now Xander stood in his bathroom holding a knife in one hand and the other over the sink. And he honestly wasn't sure which outcome he was hoping for. No sparks would mean he was still human, still normal, and destined to be on the fringes of the fight against evil. But blue sparks would mean he would have to watch as all his friends and family slowly aged and died.

And whether he was Immortal or not, it seemed that 5,000 years of memories were his to keep as a parting gift. And the memories kept coming unbidden. He looked in the mirror. The carefree eyes he'd had yesterday were gone. Now, his eyes had the look of those that had seen 5,000 years of death and destruction. He had been called many names over the years, though one seemed to follow him the longest. "Methos." Xander hissed as he drew the knife across his palm.

* * *

A/N: "You okay, Xan? Glad to see your real face again." - Apart from the Golden Trio, people's faces changed during Halloween. In canon, the Trio's faces did not change because they went as alternate versions of themselves. (Private Harris, Lady Buffy, and Willow's own ghost) Methos looked like Methos during the spell.

Is Xander an Immortal? Stay tuned next week (ok, probably a couple days) to find out!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: I have decided that Xander is not an Immortal at the moment. I have, however, not decided whether or not he is a **Potential Immortal** yet. And we're only one violent death away from finding out. Stay tuned.

Chapter 2.

* * *

Xander didn't sleep great that night. Part of it might have had something to do with the giant slash across his left palm. _**Why**__ couldn't he have made a smaller cut to prove his point?_ But at least he knew, and a part of him was relieved that he wouldn't have to hold Willow's hand at a nursing home in 80 years as she slipped away, telling people he was her grandson. The other part of why he hadn't slept well were his dreams. Except that they were really just memories. Methos' memories... that _Xander_ had to relive in his dreams. And one really freaky dream where he was rememberdreaming that he was Methos rememberdreaming some of the worst actions of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Xander had had to check his bathroom mirror after that one to make sure he still had his own face again.

But as tired as he was, he just couldn't help but rise far earlier than he wanted to and begin a morning sword kata with the very real sword he still kept. He had tried to return it to the book cage the night before but somehow was unable to. He had felt naked without it. Instead he had kept it in his coat and walked home.

But today he would almost certainly have to give it back. He went down to the basement and found an old hunting knife. He didn't know whose it was. As far as he knew, Tony had never hunted in his life. But it clearly hadn't been used or even looked at in a long time. The knife was pitted with a couple spots of rust and the sheath holding it had many greenish patches of mold. He cleaned the sheath with a wire brush and some mink oil he'd found in the same box as the knife. He ran upstairs for supplies, then he used a piece of steel wool dipped in mineral oil to remove any rust. After that he used a paper towel dipped in rubbing alcohol to wipe the blade clean again. Finally he used mineral oil on the blade once more, but without the steel wool. Finished, he tucked the knife and sheath into the small of his back, next to his stake, making sure his over-shirt covered the weapons.

* * *

Somewhat armed now, Xander put on his modified trench coat and headed off to school. Walking through a Southern California town in a trench coat might have seemed incongruous, but in Sunnydale in October- no, November; mornings could be quite chilly and afternoons never got too hot thanks to the cooling effect of the Pacific Ocean. So no one gave Xander so much as a second glance with his long, dark outerwear.

"Forgot to change, Xander?" Buffy quirked an eyebrow at him as he walked in.

"No." Xander smirked back and drew his sword. "It was just a convenient way to bring back my sword."

"I think you mean _my_ sword." Buffy came over to take her sword.

"I think _you_ mean my sword." Giles said to Buffy from his office.

"Right!" Buffy agreed with a little too much cheerfulness. "That's what I meant. I'll just help put away _your_ sword now."

"Xander carried it off, I'm sure he can find where it goes on his own." Giles tone was perfectly even. A warning that the children had long since picked up on. Whether he was angry at Xander for borrowing the sword or at Buffy for claiming it as her own or angry at something/someone else entirely remained to be seen. "For now, I want you to tell me again what you remember of the person who possessed you."

Buffy gave Giles chapter and verse on Lady Elizabeth Buffy. Daughter of Sir James Buffy, the 6th Baronet of Otterden. Otterden was apparently a real place in England that Giles knew, or at least knew of. There was no longer a Baronet there, but there probably had been one at one time. Giles would be researching whether the Baronet Buffy was real or not. Giles was also interested in whether the possession had completely left or not. Buffy had sheepishly pulled out a beat up set of knitting needles and something she had apparently started knitting that day.

"I'm not as good as I remember her being, and I bent the needles a couple times thanks to Slayer strength. But I just had this compulsion to knit a scarf today."

Giles then turned his attention to the others. "And have the two of you had any similar compulsions?"

Willow looked a little sheepish. "I keep checking walls and tables to make sure I can't walk through them any more. I'm hoping it passes quickly."

Xander decided not to mention the knife he felt compelled to bring to school, even on a Saturday. "I did a sword kata from memory this morning. That's not something that's part of my usual routine."

"I see. Still a compulsion to train could be very beneficial to you. Anything else?" Giles jotted notes.

"Memories." Xander whispered.

"Excuse me, what was that?"

"He said 'memories'!" Willow burst out.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't-" Giles was a bit taken aback by Willow's rare outburst.

"It's okay, Will." Xander cut Giles off.

"No it's not." Willow knitted her brow in consternation. One of the downsides to being in love with Xander is she tended to take up his interests. So, when he got interested in Highlander, so did she. It was why she'd instantly recognized the person that Xander had turned into last night. Which had helped convince him to help her. But knowing who he'd gone as and his history meant that she knew that Xander was suffering right now. He had horrible memories of things he had never done. "Let me explain." She waited for Xander's nod before going on. "Xander went as Methos last night."

"What's a Methos?" Giles stopped writing.

"It's not a what. It's a who. It's a character from a show called Highlander." Willow said.

"Ooo! Is that the one with the hunky guy with the ponytail?" Buffy asked. "I tried to get into it, but the sword fighting was too unrealistic for me."

"Yeah, the short explanation is that there are people who are Immortal, and they carry swords and battle to the death. They can't die unless you take their head." Willow explained.

"And with it their power." Buffy interrupted. At a glare from Willow, "Sorry. Continue."

Giles whipped off his glasses and leaned forward. "Good lord. Xander, are you really-"

Xander held up his bandaged palm and cut him off. "Nope. Which is good."

"Good?" Buffy asked incredulously. "How can being immortal be a bad thing?"

"Buffy!" Willow chided.

"No, Willow. She needs to understand." Xander turned to Buffy. "It can be bad because I have over 5,000 years worth of memories in my head now. 5,000 years of killing, and running, and losing people that I- that he loved. Of watching love ones die of the disease called Old Age. The disease I have the cure for, but can't share." Xander didn't correct himself the second time he referred to Methos' memories as 'I'. Then his eyes got cold. "What do you think? Angel has a cure for aging he can share with you. How old do you think he'll let you get before he turns you?"

"Xander!" Buffy yelled and stood up. Her hands clenched in fists that would have pulverized ordinary bones.

But Willow was by his side in a second. She enveloped him in a hug. "Shh, Xander. It's okay. I'm not going to grow old without you. I promise."

Giles capped his pen. "Yes, Buffy. I think I have everything I need from you for now. Why don't you stop by around 3:00 for a training session?" Xander had clearly suffered far more trauma than his Slayer realized, it would be best to separate them for now.

Buffy started to protest but a look from Giles held her at bay. "Fine." she grabbed her bag and left.

Once she was gone, Xander spoke up. "Sorry, Giles. These memories just pop up and it's hard to control them.

"That's quite alright, my boy. But you really have memories of the last 5,000 years of civilization? When you're feeling up to it, I would love to hear some of those memories." Giles invited.

"Not sure that it's really our world. We both have a Paris, France; but I'm pretty sure we don't have a Seacouver, Washington here. Actually, maybe you can tell me if you know of another group of guys calling themselves Watchers and watching Immortals?"

Giles shook his head. "Sorry, Xander. Not that I know of."

"No, that's probably just one other change from our world. And Methos had been around for 5,000 years and never met a demon, ever. Though he did witness a little minor magic. It wasn't nearly as powerful as Amy's mom was. I'm pretty sure he was from a very different world than ours."

Giles sighed and finally replaced his glasses. "I see. Well still, if you'd like to share, I'm sure it would be fascinating to hear in any case. And perhaps parallels could be drawn. The offer is open any time you'd like."

"Thanks."

"And in the meantime, I'm not technically allowed to train anyone other than the Slayer, but I would like to spar with some fencing foils to get an idea of your skill with a sword. Also I can give you a wooden replica to train with on your own if you'd like. And of course, you're always welcome to use the sword you borrowed for training or patrolling as long as you return it here afterward."

Xander really perked up at the mention of a wooden sword to train with. And even more when Giles offered to let him keep using 'his' sword. He tried not to let his disappointment at having to bring it back after patrols show. "Thank you, Giles." he said sincerely.

"Think nothing of it."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Xander was huffing and puffing at the end of their sparring session, though Giles didn't look like he'd even broken a sweat. Still, Xander had landed a few hits and defended himself far better than he had thought possible. Though, far worse than his memories told him he could.

His memories had taken the measure of Giles' swordsmanship as well. He was impressively good for a mortal, and being left-handed made him a challenge for someone used to right-handed fighters. But Giles wouldn't have been a challenge to Methos. At all. But Xander was not Methos. He wasn't nearly in the same shape Methos had been. He wasn't even in shape compared to Giles, which was a depressing thought for the teenager.

"You fought really well." Willow tried to comfort him.

"Indeed." Giles agreed. "Perhaps we should have another go in a few weeks? I'd be curious to see what a few weeks of katas in this body could do for your swordsmanship. Because it was clear you knew all the moves that needed to be made, even if you couldn't make them quite fast enough." A couple weeks would also give him time to stretch and work out muscles that he hadn't used in quite some time. He didn't want to let the boy know just how close to his limits he had been pushed. "I'll have that practice sword for you tomorrow, if you like?"

"Thanks, Giles." Xander finished taking off his safety gear. "I think what I need to work on most is my endurance. So, I think I'll just run home now and see you guys tomorrow."

"Wait!" Willow put a hand on his arm. "Why don't you come to my house instead?"

Xander looked down at the hand on his arm but he didn't pull away. "I really just want to be alone right now, Wills."

Willow mustered up all her courage. "I know you _want_ to be alone, but I don't think you _should be_ right now."

Xander suppressed a sigh. She was probably right. In fact, he could almost hear Methos in his head telling him so. "Okay. Do you think you can keep up?" he smirked.

"I think I'll have Giles give me a ride." Willow shook her head.

"In that car? I'll probably beat you there." Xander said not letting go of the smirk.

"Probably."

"I say!"

"No offense, Giles. I just meant that you have a lot of stuff to clean up before you leave and I can take some shortcuts a car can't."

Giles quirked an unbelieving eyebrow at the boy. "Whatever you say."

* * *

Xander's lungs were burning when he reached Willow's house and let himself in. The ability to run fast and far were going to be the first things that Xander worked on. After all, the ability and willingness to run away had saved his life far more often than his sword ever had. And Xander wanted to live to the ripe old age of 100 himself. Just so long as he didn't have to live beyond that, he would be happy.

He waited patiently for Willow to get in... for all of 30 seconds.

* * *

Willow got in and called for Xander. No one answered. She checked the living room, then the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom. No one. She called down into the basement but got no reply. She headed upstairs. She found Xander in her room, at her desk, playing chess on her computer.

"Ahem." she cleared her throat.

Xander shot up and into a defensive stance, but relaxed quickly. "Oh, sorry Will. I guess I got a little into my game." He was kicking himself for losing awareness of his surroundings. Something like that could be deadly in Sunnydale.

Willow was a little hurt. It had been a long time since they played chess together. Xander had stopped playing when they were still in elementary school. She hadn't really held back and kinda kicked his butt. A lot. "You wanna play a real person?" she offered.

To her surprise, Xander brightened at the idea. "Yeah."

Two hours later, Willow was still without a win and somewhat regretting offering to play. It was clear that Methos' memories were helping Xander. Still, she stuck it out for two reasons. One, because she now knew why Xander hadn't wanted to play with her any more and that was fair. Two, because she was learning so much more about chess and strategy than she ever thought she'd learn. Methos knew the rules for at least a dozen versions of chess, many that were no longer played, and could be considered a grandmaster at most.

It was the most fun she'd had with Xander since Jesse had died.

* * *

"Remember that book we found when we were researching the Master back in May?" Xander asked as they were watching TV later.

"The one that said that a demon leaving the earth mixed his blood with a human and created the first vampire?" Willow involuntarily shuddered at the drawings that were in that book.

"Yeah. Well, Methos had a theory about Immortals and thanks to his contacts in the Watchers, he was close to proving it. Now, he never saw any demons in his world, but he did see some limited magic. His theory went that there was one woman was cursed to be Immortal. Or it could have been like here, where a demon mixed his blood with hers to create an Immortal. Only she didn't die and come back to unlife. She continued to live. And she continued to procreate. For whatever reason she could procreate with humans but gave birth only to sterile offspring. She actually gave birth to every Immortal who ever lived."

Willow gasped. "That means that every Immortal..."

"Was killing off their half-siblings." Xander finished. "Like I said, it was just a theory, but he had proof that no recent Immortals were born less than 8 months apart, since the advent of birth certificates and accurate record keeping, except for a couple sets of fraternal twins. He also had a translation of a very old text that made it seem like the word 'The Gathering' had been mistranslated. It actually meant something closer to 'Family Reunion'. There may have been a time, before Methos' time, when all Immortals knew each other and thought of themselves as family. The rules of The Game would likely have been formal rules for ritual combat to the death at those Family Reunions. After all, if you're going to live forever, you can't just ignore each other until one of you dies.

"But like I said. It's only a theory." Xander finished. "He wanted to but hadn't gotten around to doing some genetic testing. It was still too expensive when his essence was transferred into me."

Willow wanted to say something, but didn't know what. Xander had already turned his attention back to the show they were watching, so she followed suit. But she made a mental note to talk to Giles about this soonest. Every Immortal Methos had killed had been a brother or sister to him. That was a lot of guilt to carry.

* * *

One good thing about living with parents who routinely drank away their money was that Xander learned the value of a dollar early. He also became good at saving money and hiding that savings in places his 'rents wouldn't look. What that money was for changed from year to year and sometimes month to month. Before he'd met the Slayer, that money was his ticket out of town and to start a new life on the east coast. Now he had a better use for it.

So, after leaving Willow's, Xander headed back to school. He'd had a flash of inspiration from Methos' memories of a way to make some money. He went to the computer lab and started going through pictures online of antique art for sale. Methos, despite being one of the oldest Immortals, was also one of the most adaptable and one of the early adapters of things like cars and computers. Or perhaps _because_ he was adaptable, he was one of the oldest Immortals. Either way, Xander's computer skills certainly weren't Willow level, but he was pretty sure he could now pass his computer class at the very least. It took about half an hour before he found something he liked. Priced at just a few thousand dollars but with what he was pretty sure was incorrect information attached to it. Another hour of research in the library confirmed that Methos' memories in this case were true. Or at least true enough.

The next morning, he ran to Giles' house first thing to get the practice sword he'd been promised. He then stayed for breakfast and to show Giles a few of his most common katas. After dropping the wooden sword back at his house, he walked to the local art gallery.

"Xander!" Joyce smiled as he entered. "What brings you down here on a Sunday?"

"I want to buy some art." Xander smiled back.

Joyce was nonplussed for a moment. The Harrises were not the sort of people she expected to raise an art affectionado. She quickly recovered. "I see. Can I show you some pieces?" she waved around the gallery.

Xander pulled out the sheet he'd printed from the website. "I'd like you to buy this for me."

"Xander, this is very expensive." Joyce began. She stopped when Xander plopped down several stacks of bills.

"$3,000. That should cover the cost of the piece and a buyer's commission." Xander raised an eyebrow questioningly.

Joyce was mentally rocked yet again. "Xander, I can't take your money." she tried to dissuade him.

He just smiled. "Well, if you feel like working for free, you can just return what you don't spend on the vase."

"No, what I mean is that a piece like this is too expensive for a young man still in high school." She explained.

"I'm not buying this for my room, Mrs. Summers. I'm buying it for an investment. Hasn't Buffy told you about our archeology club?" Xander offered their cover.

Joyce looked at the sheet again and furrowed her brow. "...and you think it might be mislabeled?" It was a common enough occurrence and mislabeling could change the value of a piece drastically. Recognition began to hit. Her business sense and her love of discovering art overrode any qualms she may have had about dealing with a 17 year old boy. She looked at the piece and at the cash on her counter. "Will you be needing me to sell it for you as well, Xander?" she raised an eyebrow.

Xander nodded. "Mrs. Summers, I think I would like that."

She offered her hand. "My clients call me Joyce. Come back into my office and let's draw up some paperwork."

* * *

A/N: Methos/Xander's theory on Immortals comes from my own musings when I was thinking about _how_ they could integrate with the Buffyverse. In my theory there's at least one Mother Immortal who gives birth to every Immortal in the game then abandons them shortly after they're born. Since all Immortals are foundlings, it's really the only theory that makes sense to me. It also makes the Highlander verse much darker than you might otherwise think.

The activity in 'The Gathering' in the timeframe of the Highlander series can be explained by the world growing smaller. The world had built up a large number of Immortals and then it became easier to travel and easier to find old friends and old enemies. Technology: bringing people together... and helping them behead each other.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

When you have 5,000 years of memories, you learn to prioritize. And school, which had seemed so important just on Friday, no longer seemed to matter as much. Not that he was thinking of skipping unless it was important, but teachers and even Snyder no longer seemed to possess the air of authority the way they once had. In fact, Snyder had come by to heap abuse on them and Xander had just smirked at him. "Thank you for your _marvelous_ insights, Mr. Snyder. Why don't you run along and share them with the rest of the students. I'm sure they'd _love_ to hear from you." It wasn't the words. It was the tone; pure Methos.

"Oh my gosh! Xander!" Willow squealed after Snyder was safely away. "You're going to get in so much trouble!"

Xander just snorted. "Let him try. Even if he does try something... our permanent records? Not so permanent. Won't even follow you to college, much less beyond."

"But- but- but I worked hard for that record!" Willow lamented.

"Well, it will help you get _into_ college, Wills." Xander amended. "But once you're there, you gotta start all over. Believe me, you'll have a lot of fresh starts in life. Eight or nine in a lifetime."

"I still say that's kinda freaky." Buffy said. At a look from the others, she added. "But who am I to throw stones? I kill vampires for a living. Well, not 'for a living' as I don't get paid. But you know what I mean."

Xander threw an arm around the Slayer. Life was too short for petty grudges. "I know exactly what you mean."

* * *

One thing that became very clear over the next few days was that Xander was now an old man trapped in a teenager's body. Even more than the Old Man ever had been. The girls in his life seemed to like talking about clothes, boys, clothes, shoes, and boys. In that order. Xander couldn't understand how he had ever stood it. And now they were talking about relationships. Xander suppressed a moan, but couldn't suppress an eye roll.

The fact that a 250 odd year old was laying the moves on a 16 year old girl didn't irk him the way it used to. Buffy was very much an adult to his eyes now and capable of choosing her own mate. The opinion that she was choosing poorly was one thing that his new memories hadn't changed. However, if he had to hear about Buffy and Angel and what clothes she should wear next time she saw him, someone was going to lose their head. Wooden sword or no.

Xander was so deep into ignoring his friends that he only just barely heard a male voice say something about Oreos and apple juice.

"Ford?" Buffy turned around and her eyes lit up.

"Hey Summers." Ford said nonchalantly. He gave Buffy a hug then stepped back.

"Ford!" Xander jumped up and gave the boy a hug too. "Glad to see you! Gosh, it's been what? Seventeen years? Tell me, do you like football?"

Ford was more than a bit taken aback by this stranger being so friendly. "Uh, sure. I played cornerback back in LA."

"Ford, Xander. Xander, apparently you already know Ford." Buffy introduced them.

"Nope, we just met. But I can already tell we're going to be _good_ friends." Xander plastered on a huge fake smile.

Buffy sighed at her friend's antics. "Sit down, Xander before you scare him off." she ordered. "What are you doing here, Ford?"

Ford shook off his shock. "Uh, matriculating."

"Huh?"

"I'm finishing out my senior year at Sunnydale High. Dad got transferred."

"That is great!" both Buffy and Xander said at the same time.

"I'm glad you think so, Buffy. But...?" Ford looked questioningly at Xander.

"I've been feeling a little outnumbered lately. We could use another guy in the group." Xander answered. And if it happened to be a nice, normal guy that Buffy clearly already liked, then that was far better for Buffy than an immortal creature of the night. Now, if he could just introduce this Ford to the nightlife in a way that didn't freak him out, that would be perfect.

In the end, Ford got invited to a night at the Bronze, which Xander also accepted despite the training he had been planning on doing that night.

* * *

"So, Ford and Xander seem to be hitting it off." Willow said as she and Buffy waited in line for food.

"I know. Xander is... very enthusiastic." Buffy allowed. "Have we been too girly around him lately or something? He seems a little starved for guy-time."

"I think it's the memories." Willow admitted.

"Still?" Then again. The two of them had chatted in French for almost an hour the other day before she'd even realized it. That French test was in the bag.

Willow frowned. "You only had a few years to integrate. He had 5,000."

"True." Buffy shrugged. "I wonder what they're talking about?"

"Can't you hear? You know, with your...?" Willow pulled her earlobe and hinted... badly.

"Ears?" Buffy teased. "No. Super-senses not so good for hearing over loud music and a room full of talking kids. If I try to concentrate in here, I just end up with a headache."

They both looked over at the boys still playing pool, wondering.

* * *

"So, how do you feel about vampires?" Xander began just as soon as the girls were out of hearing range. Subtlety be damned.

Ford muffed his shot. Then looked at Buffy before looking back at Xander. "She told you?"

"She told _you_?" Xander sounded more surprised.

"No, I worked it out after I saw her fighting vampires back home." Ford answered.

Xander took his shot. "You still didn't answer my question." Xander said as he chalked his stick and lined up another shot. It bounced out of the corner pocket.

"I didn't have to come here, you know. It's only an hour commute back to LA." Ford said.

"I know. Which was why I asked. And you _still_ haven't answered the question." Xander said as Ford shot. Avoiding the question a second time like that seemed very suspicious. Warning bells were starting to go off in his head.

Ford shot him a glare. "I jumped at the chance to come here because I wanted to help Buffy. I- I wanted to see her again." he finished slightly abashed.

The warning bells in Xander's mind went from blaring to rather muted. But not totally gone. He paused for a minute before speaking again. "I'm trying to decide if that's really sweet or just plain stupid." He was saved from deciding by the return of the girls. And they brought a guest.

"Hey guys! Look who we found!" Willow chirped happily.

Buffy seemed less enthused that Angel was here. "Angel, this is Ford. We went to school together in

L.A."

"Nice to meet you." Angel said as he shook Ford's hand.

"Whoa! Cold hands!" Ford observed.

"That's because Angel's a vampire." Xander said. Everyone turned wide-eyed at him. His three friends- okay, two friends and Angel were aghast that he'd just blurt out their secret like that. Ford was wide eyed at meeting his first vamp. "What? He already knew." Xander explained to his friends... and Angel. Three wide-eyed stared transferred to Ford.

"I was looking for the right time to tell you." Ford shrugged at Buffy. "I know you're the Slayer. I found out right before you got booted from Hemery."

* * *

"I have to wonder, why is a vampire hanging out with the Vampire Slayer?" Ford asked as he stepped out from behind the tree he'd been hiding behind.

Angel was a little taken aback. It was hard to fool a vampire's senses and he knew that a human had been up ahead, but he'd been hoping it was Buffy. She'd been a little distant back at the club. "Ford, wasn't it? It's really none of your business. But I'll tell you what I'm curious about. Someone who knows about vampires and comes to Sunnydale of their own free will. _That_ makes me curious."

Surprising Angel yet again, Ford just smiled. "You're right. I do have an ulterior motive for being here. Wanna see?"

"Sure." Angel agreed.

The next thing he knew, he was waking up chained to a concrete pillar. His wrist hurt and he had the taste of human blood on his mouth. Worst of all, the dead body of Billy Fordham was lying at his feet in a pool of blood that was much too small to have killed the boy. And to top it all off, there was another kid in goth makeup and a cloak looking at him hungrily.

* * *

Omake:

_Xander took his shot. "You still didn't answer my question." Xander said as he chalked his stick and lined up another shot. It bounced out of the corner pocket._

"_I don't know." Ford said. "I mean, living forever, the ability to fly. That stuff sounds pretty cool." Ford shot and missed._

"_Vamps can't fly."_

"_You sure?"_

"_Been fighting them for over a year straight. Never seen one fly yet. Or turn into a bat, or a wolf, or mist." Xander said then took a shot._

"_Huh. Still, living forever would be awesome." Ford said. "Even if it means you have to drink blood."_

_Xander was rapidly losing his inclination to befriend the boy. "First of all, living forever would suck. You'll have to watch your family and friends slowly grow old and die in front of you; hating you for your eternal youth. And second of all, being a vampire means you're dead. You're no longer in control of your body. If you're lucky, you get to go along for the ride as a vile demon takes over. It likes to start by **killing** all your family and friends if it can just to rid itself of those memories of when it was human."_

A/N: Ford thinking Vamps could fly was just me poking fun at the differences in canon between the movie and the series. But this got a little too Uber!Xander for my taste.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

A wracking cough let everyone in the room know he was awake. Not that he needed to breathe anymore, it was more a combination of habit and instinct. "I'm alive!" he yelled as he stood up and stretched. The demon in Ford's body looked around at the blood-bags his former self had left for him.

"My turn!" Diego called and pushed himself in front of his former friend. "Turn me!" he ordered.

Ford contemplated for a second then a truly vicious smile spread across his lips.

"Ford. Don't." Angel ordered from where he was chained.

Ford flashed his prisoner a toothy grin before he bent Diego's neck back and fed. Deeper and deeper he drank until Diego started to get a little worried.

"Okay. Good. That's enough. Give me a drink of yours now." he tried to bite Ford but was held securely in place. "Hey! Come on man!" he yelled weakly. But his protestations fell on deaf ears. He pulled out a Taser and tried to shock Ford with it. Angel realized how he had ended up here and why his side hurt. But Ford was ready for what Angel had not been and easily disarmed his former friend. Diego tried to hit back but his strikes quickly got weaker and weaker until his heart finally gave out from lack of blood to pump.

Not that Ford could have stopped himself if he'd wanted to. The taste of his friend's blood was the sweetest, most succulent thing he'd ever experienced. When he'd tasted Angel's blood, he'd almost gagged, but had forced himself to drink and to keep drinking until he was full. Then he'd opened his wrist and drained what he could back into the unconscious vampire. Blood in, blood out. That was how you created a vampire. But he'd never planned on turning Marvin or Diego or whatever he wanted to call himself anyway. "I never liked him much." Ford said as he dropped the corpse.

Those words seemed to break whatever spell or morbid curiosity that had been holding the rest of the people there. Half of them started to bolt.

Ford made no move to stop them. Instead he called, "Remember! I know where you live!"

That stopped almost everyone in their tracks. A few continued on through the door that someone had been working on before. Whoever had been there though was long gone himself and his work unfinished.

"Good." Ford smiled and turned to a beautiful girl who had been too scared to run. "Chantarelle, I'd like you to be my first childe." he offered her his hand. He cut his wrist for her then held it to her lips. He swayed when her lips touched his arm. He could feel the power flowing out of him, even as he had felt power flowing into him as he'd killed Diego. "Enough!" he tore his arm from her lips and drove his fangs into her neck. He felt power returning, but not nearly as much as he had given. He dropped Chantarelle's lifeless body on the ground and rocked on his feet. No one had said how much turning a vampire took out of you. He was only still standing by a force of will.

"Now's your chance." Angel called to everyone. "He's weak right now. Run! Or put a stake through his heart if you want to kill him. But he can't make all of you if that's what you want. At best, he can do one, maybe two more. Most of you are going to die. Permanently."

"Shut up!" Ford bellowed. He broke a chair and lurched towards the older vampire.

Angel braced himself for the blow that never came.

"No. No. I've got a better use for you. They can all drink a little of your blood. That should make sure we have enough to go around." Ford smiled at his diabolical plan.

* * *

"Xander! Willow! Have you guys seen Ford today?" Buffy asked before their first class.

"Sorry, no." Xander said.

"Damn. I knew I should have insisted on walking him home. I hope nothing happened." Buffy groused.

"He knew the dangers." Xander defended her choice.

"Well we have a few minutes before class. I could hack the school's records and find out what his first class is. And a phone number to call in case he's sick." Willow offered.

Buffy brightened at that prospect. "Yeah. Thanks, Willow."

* * *

Willow made a face. "Well, maybe they just don't have him in the system yet. No. They would have to have put him in the system to give him a schedule. Ooo! I know. I'll sort by date registered." her fingers flew across the keyboard. "Nothing. Are you sure you took him to the Registrar's office?"

"_Of course_ I took him to the Registrar's office." Buffy defended. "I was new here too last year. I remember where it was." Her face went blank. "But then again, I left him at the door and didn't go in with him to register." Everyone was silent for a moment. "But why would he...?"

The library doors opened and everyone jumped.

"Ah, Buffy there you are. I leave to try and find you and you show up of course. Anyway. Ms. Calendar and I are going... somewhere tonight, and she's given, oh, given me the number of her beeper thingy, uh, in case you need me for, um... Is something wrong?" Giles finally realized that something was amiss.

"Buffy had a friend from LA show up yesterday and say he was transferring in. Last night we found out he knew about vampires before he moved here. But he didn't show up today." Xander summarized.

"Well, perhaps he hasn't had a chance to regi-"

"I walked him to the office myself." Buffy cut off her mentor sadly. She was very near tears. Not wanting to contemplate any of the likely scenarios that went with her friend knowing about vampires, lying to her about transferring here, and then disappearing. "I'll ask Angel tonight if he's seen or heard anything around town." she hopped down from where she had been sitting on the checkout counter.

"We should head to class too." Willow said as she and Xander gathered up their books as well as Buffy's that she seemed to have forgotten.

"Call the pager if you hear anything." Giles said as they left.

* * *

"Buffy. I did some more research on Ford over lunch." Willow said. "Here's an address for a club in the warehouse district called the Sunset Club. It's the only thing in Sunnydale that I could find with his name on it. His dad also didn't get a transfer. His family is still in LA, near as I can tell without... you know, hacking credit card records or something."

Buffy took the paper sadly.

"I'll come with you Buff." Xander said.

"Me too." Willow nodded.

Buffy was glad for the support. For emotional reasons if nothing else. She really hoped they didn't find anything that would require Xander's new found skills.

* * *

"..."

"Yeah, mom. I have a lot of homework. We're probably going to be studying pretty late tonight." Buffy said.

"..."

"Giles!?" Buffy panicked a little bit. Giles had already left for the night. "Uh, I think he stepped out for a minute. Maybe the bathroom? I don't know, I didn't ask."

"..."

"I love you too. I'll see you when you get back from the auction."

"..."

"Xander? Umm, yeah he's right here." she gave her friend a quizzical look but handed over the phone.

"..."

"Hi, Joyce!" Xander answered cheerfully. "No, I haven't changed my mind. I'd rather no one knew I was involved with this piece. Or any buy or sale until I get the emancipation papers put through."

"..."

"Thanks. I'll see you Monday." Xander hung up the phone. Then turned to face a scowling Buffy. "What?"

"You called my mom 'Joyce'." she accused.

Xander sighed. "That happens to be her name. It's also what she asked me to call her."

"And what 'piece' were you talking about?"

"'Piece' is a slang term for guns. I'm having her smuggle some guns up here while she's in LA." Xander deadpanned. Okay, he was really channeling Methos there.

Buffy didn't respond. She just crossed her arms and tapped her foot.

"It's a piece of art I found. I had her buy it for me, then I gave her the correct information about the piece and now she's selling it for me. Okay?" Xander explained.

"And how did you find this 'piece'?" Buffy asked.

Xander sighed again. She wasn't going to drop this until he spelled it out for her. "How much do you remember about Halloween?"

"Halloween? Please, I'm trying to repress Lady Useless." Buffy scoffed.

"Well, I'm not. 5,000 years is a long time and the memories are far too useful. For instance, I can already tell that in less than a month, I'm going to be as good as Giles is with a sword. I knew the true value of the piece of art I found online was much greater than it was listed for. And I'm becoming disturbingly aware that Willow is obsessed with me." Xander finished.

"Willow's not-"

"Obsessed." Xander cut her off. "Buffy, she knows my blood pressure. Hell, I couldn't have even told you my blood type or Social Security Number before Halloween, but she knew them. I mean, I knew she liked me, but I thought it was kind of a puppy love kinda thing. Like what I felt for you back when we first met. I thought she'd grow out of it. Now, I'm afraid of what she might do even if I try to let her down gently."

_Felt?_ Buffy couldn't help but think. She tried to tell herself it was for the best that his feelings for her were now past tense. After all, she loved Angel. _Right?_ Still, a girl liked to know she was wanted so it hurt to lose that. "So, what are you going to do?" she asked carefully. She didn't want to see Willow hurt.

"For now, nothing." he replied. "I need to get my life in order first. Then I can set her straight."

"Set who straight?" Willow asked as she walked into the Library.

"Cordelia." Xander lied easily. "She's been snarkier than normal and I've used up all my best comebacks."

"Oh, well... I'm sure you'll think of something." Willow assured him. "Shall we go?" she asked, taking in the long coat from Halloween that almost surely held a sword.

She was right about the coat. But it held a lot more than a sword now. It also held no less than five stakes, a cross, and three vials of holy water. Thanks to Methos' memories, Xander now came to fights much more prepared.

* * *

A/N: I've seen Ford die any number of ways in YAHFs. I wrote a story called A Whole New World in which he's healed and joins the group. But this time, I decided to let him be turned. I haven't seen that in a story yet. Should be interesting.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Brace yourselves, I'm about to destroy your long held fanon beliefs. Unless, of course, you've already read Death and Taxes. You might want to read that now since I'm not going to explain why I think differently than most on this subject. Please read to the end before you flame. I welcome flames, but I prefer that they be well informed flames.

* * *

Chapter 6.

"So Xander, when we get there, are you going to show them what Death is really capable of?" Willow asked as they walked. They were in the warehouse district and the sun was setting. She needed to talk just to calm her nerves. They were all a little jumpy after finding Angel's apartment empty despite the sun still being up.

"Huh?"

"Death. You know, the guy you dressed up as last Friday." she went on.

"Oh. Well, hopefully not." Xander cast a sideways glance at Buffy. "And for the record. Methos wasn't Death."

"Sure he was." Willow defended. "I can quote you the line. 'Do you know who I was? I was Death. Death — Death on a horse.'"

Xander shook his head. "And do you remember the rest of the scene? Methos was trying to goad the Highlander into a fight. Either to take his head right there and give him the strength to defeat the others or to give him the fire to fight against the invincible Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. So he lied. Because among the Horsemen, he wasn't death. He was Victory. 'I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.' I can tell you for a fact that Methos favored white horses and always carried a bow. A practice I should really take up again."

"Why haven't you yet?" Buffy broke in.

"Too much other stuff to do. Besides, relearning the bow will take a whole lot longer than the sword. It's not like swinging a sharpened hunk of metal around. The bow takes real skill to use properly. Which is the real reason it fell out of favor compared to guns. The time required to train a bowman was immense compared to the time it took to train a musketeer."

"If you weren't Death, then who was?" Willow didn't want to let it drop.

"'I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.' The rider of the pale horse was always Kronos. He was the one that kept the other three of us in line because we all feared going up against him. Kronos was Death because everyone that went up against him, died. Methos was Victory. Silas was Famine. The man could _eat_. Caspian was Conflict A.K.A. War. Almost every fight that started amongst us involved him as an instigator." Xander said.

Willow grinned from ear to ear. "Oh, man. When I post that to the Highlander fan-forums tonight, people are going to freak!"

Xander chuckled. More power to her there. If she was posting it to the fan-forums tonight that would be because they all made it back safe and sound. Something his instincts were telling him might not happen easily. "Just don't tell them that Methos told you so."

"We're here." Buffy announced. "And it looks like someone left the door open for us."

* * *

Daytime was a very boring time for the newly risen Ford. Everyone in his little club was either dead or insane. Because that was apparently what happened to vampires when you drained all the blood out of them; they looked like death warmed over and went batshit insane. He had been tempted several times during the day to release Angel from his bonds and let him run out into the sunlight. But he wasn't sure he could take the other vampire 1-on-1 even like this and so he waited for his backup to rise from the dead.

Finally, the sun set and Chantarelle rose smoothly from the dead. Much more regally than he had. Then he heard a familiar voice from outside.

"We're here." Buffy announced. "And it looks like someone left the door open for us."

The others weren't waking yet and he had no idea when they would either. He knew two vampires wouldn't be a match for the Vampire Slayer. He needed to stall for time.

"Help me unlock his chains." he whispered to Chantarelle. He was suddenly very happy that he hadn't rashly killed the desiccated vampire out of mercy or boredom.

Angel made one lunge at Ford, but was quickly beaten back by the two vampires. He retreated up the stairs quickly after that.

"And now we wait. With any luck, Buffy will kill her friend, making her that much easier for us to kill." Ford explained to his childe.

* * *

They heard the shambling of boots on the metal staircase before they saw anything. Initially, Xander had thought it was a zombie, but then he saw the fangs and realized it was a vampire. A vampire that looked disturbingly similar to those pictures you see of Holocaust victims. His skin was taught and gray over muscles that had shriveled to a fraction of their size in life. And clothes that had probably once fit him, looked five sizes too big for him now. Xander readied his sword. Dusting this thing would be a mercy.

Willow got out of the way to one side and Buffy readied herself to attack from the other side in case Xander's initial attack failed. She took one last glance at the vampire before moving aside. A mere instant later, realization hit. The vampire was wearing the exact same clothes that Angel had been wearing yesterday. And his hair was the same length as Angel's, though it was matted to his head instead of sticking up. "Xander! It's Angel!" she called as Xander started his blow.

Time seemed to slow for Xander as he heard Buffy's cry. He found it hard to believe that Buffy could tell that looking at the near mummy charging at him. But he decided to believe her anyway. He couldn't pull his blow now. He would be run over and drained before Buffy could do anything about it. Instead, he turned his hands just a bit and slid a leg back so that when the vampire reached him, it got a conk to the noggin that sent it sprawling away from him; instead of the beheading blow it had been about to receive.

"Hold him!" Buffy ordered.

"You hold him!" Xander shot back. "I'll settle for not dying at your insane boyfriend's hands. Or, more likely, mouth."

Willow noticed that when Xander was stressed, he sounded a lot like Methos.

Buffy fought against the insane vampire for a minute before Xander rushed in and staked his foot to the ground.

Buffy glared daggers.

"What? Now you can restrain him." Xander shrugged off the glare. Once that was accomplished he went on. "Great. Now what are you going to do with him?"

"We have to help him!" Buffy cried, holding her struggling boyfriend in a full nelson.

"Staking him would be a mercy." Xander said.

"We're not staking him." Buffy growled.

Xander called over his shoulder. "Willow, if I'm ever turned... soul or no. If I look or act like that, please stake me."

Willow just swallowed and nodded. She wasn't sure if she would ever be that strong, but she'd try her best for Xander.

"Listen. I'm going to take Angel back to the Library. Hopefully Giles can help him. You guys stay here and guard the door until I get back." Buffy decided.

"Okay, first of all – no. Secondly, keep your voice down." Xander dropped his volume to demonstrate. "Anyone still in there can hear every word you just said and now they know your plans. Besides, there's no way Willow and I are going up against whatever did that to Angel without any intelligence, a good plan, and Slayer backup. And before you ask, no, we're not dragging Angel back for you either."

"What do you want me to do?" Tears streamed down the Slayer's face as she held her struggling boyfriend.

"We'll follow you. You can take him back to Giles, but whatever is down there will probably get away. Or you can leave him here. You take out your anger on whatever did this to him while Willow and I will take care of him and then follow you down." Xander offered her her options. "It's your choice."

* * *

A/N: I've already given my reasoning behind Methos not being the horseman Death in the story Death and Taxes. Read that if you'd like to understand why I decided that was false. Although, one additional reason I remembered, Methos was never, ever referred to as Death ever again in the series.

A/N2: Angel looks like a Holocaust survivor because that's what Spike described about vamps that don't feed for long enough and it's logical. It's very likely that when Angel came back from that hell-dimension that he looked similar. Except that the logistical realities and CGI limitations meant that they couldn't make him look that way for a TV show.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

"Buffy. Are you sure this is Angel?" Giles asked as the desiccated vampire again rattled the book cage.

"Yes. Can you help him?" Buffy asked worriedly.

Giles scratched his temple, damning himself once again for ever letting his Slayer get involved with a vampire. "Y- Yes, I suppose. It's likely all he needs is blood."

"Well in that case..." Buffy jumped off the table she'd been sitting on and walked deliberately towards the cage. Three people jumped up to stop her.

"Buffy, what do you think you're doing?" Giles chided.

"Giving him some blood. You said he needs blood." Buffy said matter-of-factually.

"Yes, but I'm afraid he needs much more than you could spare. And he's not in his right mind right now. There's no way he could stop before you were dead." Giles explained.

"And then you just give the Incredible Sulk one more thing to brood over." Xander quipped.

"Let me handle this Buffy." Giles pleaded. "I think I know somewhere I can get blood in the quantities needed without killing anyone. Especially yourself."

"Besides, we need to go back to Ford's club and see if anyone is still there." Xander reminded her.

Buffy looked forlornly at her wounded boyfriend then her demeanor got cold. "I'm going to kill whoever did this. Painfully."

* * *

Buffy led the way into the Sunset Club. Inside, there were bodies everywhere. She walked over to one and checked it. "Blood in the mouth. Stake 'em." She staked the one she had checked and left the stake there. Then she went over to some wooden furniture and started to make kindling of it. She passed improvised stakes out to Xander and Willow as they ran out of pre-made ones.

Suddenly, five bodies jumped up and attacked. Buffy took on four of them while Xander scrambled to draw his sword and dust the one closest to him. Willow tried her best to look small, unimportant, and not at all delicious as she cowered against a wall. Once the vampires were dead, Xander was holding his arm where his vamp had slashed him with his claws. "I got a better idea. How about we just burn the place?"

Buffy sighed but nodded. "Is Ford here?"

Xander shook his head. "I didn't see him." He didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. With his luck though, almost certainly bad.

Xander stood back with his sword ready while Buffy piled the bodies together. She then piled everything burnable on and around them. Xander pulled a lighter and lit a piece of fabric. They all stood and watched for a couple seconds to make sure it caught before turning and making their way silently up and out of the club.

* * *

Giles resigned himself to a very late night feeding his Slayer's vampiric boyfriend cup after cup of pigs' blood through the slot in the book cage. This situation had never been covered in all his years of training at the watcher's academy. And it probably never would as he had no intention of reporting this to the council.

He wondered for a moment if Buffy would appreciate what he was doing for her, but he doubted it. American children had no sense of gratitude but he was fairly certain that Angel would. And it was a chit that Giles intended to call in.

Already the feeding was going better than the first few tries. Angel had learned that his bowl of blood would be refilled when he backed away from the cage bars and if he tried to rush the cage while refilling was going on, he would get less blood. He picked up his cup to do another feeding when Buffy walked in, alone. They didn't say a word, but Giles demonstrated how he was feeding Angel. When Angel was done with that bowl, he gave her the cup to refill it from the bucket. Once he was sure she had the matter in hand, he laid a hand on her shoulder and gave her a sad smile to show her his own gratitude that she was taking over. Her own sad smile was his reward. Then he made his way out and to his car for at least a little sleep. All without ever saying a word.

* * *

Giles had arrived early that morning with manacles strong enough to hold a vampire. Why Giles had such chains, Buffy didn't want to think about. Luckily, Angel had calmed down a lot since she'd been feeding him all night. He also looked almost back to his old self. He still couldn't or wouldn't talk to her though and until then they couldn't be sure he was safe to be around people again. So she and Giles found an out of the way spot in the basement to chain him up. They left him what was left of the bucket of blood and a long straw so he could feed himself during the day. Then both she and Giles tried to go about their day.

Buffy, however, was tired, distracted, and not in a mood to talk anyways. She ended up with detention for snapping at her English teacher.

But all was forgotten after school (and detention) when she went down to the basement to see Angel and he said "Buffy!" when he saw her.

* * *

"Your friend Ford." Angel began once they unchained him and brought him up to the library. "He knocked me out. I think with a Taser. Then he must have fed from me and drained his own blood. Not long after I woke up, he woke up as a vampire. He sired a girl himself, but then he decided to have everyone else feed off of me. That's the last thing I remember. You have to get to that club. Some of them might not have risen yet."

"We took care of it." Buffy assured him. "But Ford got away."

"We had a choice of saving you or going after Ford." Xander added.

"You should have killed me and gone after Ford." Angel said to Buffy, ever so nobly.

Xander smirked. "That plan had my vote."

Buffy glared daggers at her male friend, but the glare seemed to have no effect.

* * *

Ford breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Buffy and her friends were leaving for the second time. He could see flickering light and then smoke coming from the doorway to his club that told him not to bother going back for any more vampires that might have risen. Which was too bad, but still, _he_ had gotten away and that's what really mattered. It had been a close thing too. He was fortunate that Buffy and her friends had taken away her crazed vampire boyfriend and had given him and Chantarelle time to escape. Of course they hadn't left alone, they had each carried a yet-to-rise vampire to an abandoned factory across the street. Then they'd come back for a second trip. Two vamps had risen in their absence and the four of them each carried another body.

Chantarelle had wanted to make another trip, but he'd nixed the idea. And his instincts had been right as the Slayer had returned soon after that. Soon enough that they might have been spotted, or worse... trapped in the club with a pissed off Slayer.

Ford had been planning on toying with her for a couple weeks before killing her. Instead, he changed his mind and decided against toying with her. He even decided against killing her... for now. Frankly, he wanted to get some strength back after turning Chantarelle and his minions also needed a couple good meals in them. Besides, he wasn't dying any more so there was no longer any rush. Now was the time to sit back and gather his strength. Soon enough, he would drain Buffy Summers.

* * *

"Xander, have you forgotten that I can pummel you into submission if I want?" Buffy asked lightly as she walked him home. Her tone belying her serious words. "When I glare at you to shut up, you should listen."

Xander had decided that if Giles wanted his sword back after patrolling, then he wanted a Slayer escort home. Which was why they were now walking together. "Do you know who had a scary glare? Julius Caesar. But it might have been the fact that he could and would crucify you if you displeased him." Xander said. "It's the willpower to follow through on your threats that renders your glares impotent. Besides. It's physically impossible to 'listen' to someone glare at you."

"You know what I meant!" Buffy accused.

"No. But I meant what you knew." Xander grinned back flippantly.

Buffy crossed her arms and stopped walking. "I'll leave you here." she warned.

"Fine. Then my horrific death will be on your head. I wonder if Ford will kill me himself or have one of his minions do it for him?" he asked rhetorically while waggling his eyebrows jokingly.

Buffy sighed/groaned, threw up her hands, and started walking again. "Were you always so quippy or is this just since Halloween?"

Xander shrugged. "Methos always had those lines I could only think of the next day. That's part of the reason why I chose him and not _Duncan MacLeod of the Clan MacLeod._ Methos and I were already very similar. Honestly, it kinda blurs the line for me too. The best way I can describe it is it's me the way I wanted to be. If that answers your question."

"I suppose." Buffy allowed. They walked in silence for a bit. "I'm sorry." she said finally.

"For what?"

"I don't think I was really fair to you after Halloween." Buffy said. "I was trying to integrate 20 years of memories into mine. I guess I didn't realize what dealing with 5,000 would be like."

"Yeah. I'm sorry too. They made me a little snippy for a bit. And they're still changing me in ways I don't always realize until later. Like just now when you accused me of being 'quippy'. I hadn't even realized that my quip-fu had gotten stronger until then." Xander explained.

"I guess we could both be a bit more understanding." Buffy answered.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

"Xander, what are you doing?" Buffy had a confused look on her face.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Xander replied.

"Jumping on a trampoline. What are we, five?" Buffy said.

"I think it's cute." Willow said.

Buffy didn't reply to Willow. Since Xander had pointed it out, she was beginning to agree that perhaps a little too much of Willow's identity came via Xander. Perhaps slightly more than was healthy, but she wasn't going to use the word 'obsessed'. Yet. "Where did you even find that huge thing?"

"Freshmen have a two week trampoline unit that you missed. And it's good exercise." Xander defended. "Methos loved it. It's a great way to work on flexibility, balance, and gymnastic skills; all while getting a great endurance workout that's easier on the joints than running. He considered the trampoline one of the top 5 greatest inventions."

"What were the other four?" Willow wondered.

"Modern plumbing including underground sewers, linen-rag paper, the microwave oven, and the bicycle."

"You forgot the wheel." Buffy quipped.

Xander did a back-flip. "Invented before Methos' time. Otherwise the bow and arrow probably would have edged out the microwave oven."

"You forgot the printing press." Willow stated.

"It was invented dozens of times before Gutenberg's caught on. What really changed at the time was the availability of cheap, linen-rag-paper. Once paper was cheap, it became economical to print the same thing hundreds of times. The invention of cheap paper was what really changed the world there." Xander explained.

Willow filed that history tidbit from the world's oldest memories away while Buffy let it go in one ear and out the other. "Whatever Zummi. Giles says it's time for my sword lesson." the Slayer announced.

"Zummi?" Willow and Xander both questioned.

"Yeah. You know. Zummi Gummi from the Gummi Bears." Buffy explained as Xander dismounted. "He was the old, wise one. And with Xander's new memories and his new bounciness, it seemed to fit."

"Ha ha! I love it!" Xander declared and started singing as they left the gym.

"Dashing and daring, Courageous and caring, Faithful and friendly, With stories to share. All through the forest, They sing out in chorus, Marching along, As their song fills the air!"

**Note: FFN does not allow songs, so all lyrics but a placeholder have been deleted from this fic.**

The girls joined in on the chorus as they walked down the halls.

They reached the library just as they started the second chorus.

Giles turned to see what the ruckus was, but just shook his head at the strange song his children were singing. Still, it made him smile to see them in high spirits.

"What do you think, girls? Gruffi Gummi?" Xander smirked as they finished the song.

Buffy and Willow looked at Giles and both nodded sagely. "Definitely Gruffi." Buffy agreed. Then quickly added at Willow. "And I call Sunni!"

"Who does that leave me with? Grammi Gummi?" Willow moped.

Giles had absolutely no idea what anyone was talking about or what it had to do with the song they'd just been singing. "If we could focus, _please_?" he begged. He handed Xander his padding and both of them their practice swords.

Buffy and the newly anointed Zummi faced off then Xander attacked. But he sang as he did so. "Dashing and daring..." attacking in time with the song. Giles almost stepped in, but stopped himself and had to hide a smile instead. Without changing the beat of the song he was singing, Xander quickened the pace that he attacked at and caught Buffy off guard.

"Hey!" she called.

"Well done, Xander." Giles complimented. "There will be a pattern or a flow to any fight you are in, Buffy. Finding that pattern and breaking it before your opponent does can save your life. Again." Then he sat back and watched as Buffy tried the same thing on Xander. Xander was ready for it, which would have saved him against a normal opponent, but against a Slayer, it only meant that he didn't take the full force of the blow. "Buffy, you should be able to get inside his defenses without any problems. Do it again." Giles ordered. He had to admit, it was much easier to order her to go again when it wasn't him she was pummeling. And Xander seemed to thrive on the practice as well – seeming to take it as a personal affront/challenge that anyone, even a Slayer, would be able to get inside his defenses.

Xander brought other skills to the table besides being an enthusiastic punching bag. There wasn't much in sword play that Giles didn't know, but Xander seemed to know those few things now. Also, it just helped to have a second teacher. It was much easier to demonstrate a move to Buffy with Xander to use as a partner so she could see what it should look like and imitate it. And at those times when he was personally instructing her, Xander could be an extra set of eyes that caught things he was too busy dodging blows to notice.

"Okay, that's enough." Xander called as he picked himself up from the floor.

"But I'm only getting warmed up!" Buffy complained.

"Then you'll just have to beat up Giles for a while. I've got an appointment to keep." Xander said.

Willow looked up from the dusty tome she'd been reading at that but it was Buffy who spoke with a quizzical look on her face. "An appointment? With who?"

"With whom." Xander corrected. "And if you must know, I'm meeting a woman for coffee."

Buffy looked at Willow, who seemed to have lost the capability for speech and spoke for her. "Who is this woman? Do I know her? What are you meeting about?"

Xander gave a wry smile. "Well, she's a little older than me, physically. And she's single. But we're just meeting for business. It's not a date or anything." He waited for Buffy to look at Willow again before winking at Giles. The British man hid a smile by starting to put away Xander's practice gear.

"What kind of business?" Buffy inquired.

"The kind that's none of yours. I'll see you guys tomorrow." And with that he left.

"Giles!" Buffy whined.

"What do you wish me to say, Buffy?" Giles asked, taking off his glasses and polishing them. He needed something to focus on so he wouldn't burst out laughing. Xander had purposely piqued his Slayer's interest and he intended her to follow him for some reason. "I know nothing of Xander's plans or of his lady-friend."

"But- but- but-" Willow broke out of her reverie.

"Come on, Willow." Buffy grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her from the library.

Only once they were safely away did Giles allow himself a good chuckle. He would have to hear the whole story from Xander later, but for now he began picking up the mess his Slayer had left with a resigned sigh.

A/N: Peter Wingfield was Welsh National Trampoline Champion at age 15. Hence Methos liking the trampoline.

Cheap paper had far more to do with Gutenberg's success than any brilliance or originality of his design.

A/N2: Gummi Bears and their theme song are probably owned by Disney. I do not own. Bonus points to you if you sang along with the Scoobies. Super bonus points if you didn't need the words.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

_Buffy's woodcraft skills need work. _Xander thought to himself as he easily kept track of the two women trying to follow him inconspicuously. _Is sneaking around still called woodcraft skills if it's in a city?_ the random thought struck him. He banished the idea as he approached the cafe. Looking in, he could see her already waiting for him as he was on-the-dot on time. He positioned himself with his back to the door as he sat down, something that Methos never would have done, but in this case, hiding his 'date' from prying eyes was more important than his own safety.

"Xander. Glad you could make it." she said as he sat down.

"Of course, Joyce. I never pass up coffee with a beautiful woman. Especially not one who wants to give me money." Xander flirted.

"Oh, stop." Joyce replied jokingly. It was really too bad she was seeing Ted. Otherwise she would have been tempted to flirt back.

Their drinks arrived and they got down to business. "So, how'd we do?"

Joyce smiled. "$50,250."

Xander nodded. 50k was about what he'd been expecting.

"Well, after my commissions on the buy and the sale," Joyce leaned in and whispered so as not to be heard by the passing waitress. "I'm now holding a little over $45,000 of your money. What do you want me to do with it?"

Xander opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by a shrill voice. "Mom!? You're dating Xander!?"

Xander turned in time to see Buffy catch Willow as she fainted dead away.

The entire coffee shop stopped what they were doing to watch the drama.

"Buffy! I'm not _dating_ Xander. We met here to discuss business. _Private_ business." Joyce said sternly. She was red-faced with embarrassment. Buffy was going to get a stern lecture when they got home.

Joyce stood and walked to her daughter. Xander followed and took Willow from Buffy's arms. He knew Buffy could carry her easier than he could, but it would look weird and they already had enough people staring at them, though most went back to what they were doing once it was clear that it was just a misunderstanding.

"Come on, young lady. We are going home to have a talk about personal boundaries. Will you be okay, Xander?"

"Yeah. I'll take Willow home and explain the situation to her. We can meet again tomorrow to finish today's business?"

"That'll be fine." Joyce assured him then started dragging her daughter home.

* * *

"I'm _not_ dating Joyce Summers." were the first words out of Xander's mouth when Willow finally woke up.

He went on to explain that she was doing some art buying and selling for him since he was still a minor and didn't have the time anyway.

"You set us up." Willow realized.

"Of course." Xander grinned.

But Willow wasn't smiling. "That was a mean trick." she accused.

Xander got similarly serious. "Why? I'm not dating you or Buffy. If I want to date someone, it's neither of your business." he said flatly.

"Your last girlfriend tried to drain the life out of me. I think it _is_ my business." Willow countered.

Xander sighed. "Willow. You're my sister and I love you. But if I wake up crazy one day and want to date _Cordelia Chase_, it still wouldn't be your business. And I'm not sure you realize how scared you make me that you think it is. I'm going to be frank with you; I think you're a little obsessed with me and it's not healthy."

Willow just stared at him open mouthed for a full minute while she processed what he'd just said.

"I was there for you when your sister 'disappeared' and I'm proud to call you my friend but I think I've turned into a crutch for you. A crutch that's preventing you from making new friends."

"No. You're not a crutch!" Willow denied. "You're like a pole-vaulting pole, pushing me higher than I could reach on my own."

"Maybe. But if you want to be a pole-vaulter, eventually you have to let go of the pole." Xander turned her metaphor against her. "Now, I'll tell you where I want this to go. My goal. My goal is to have a nice, normal friendship with a girl, who doesn't buy every season of Highlander just because I like it, and doesn't hack my medical records to check up on me. And for my part, I'll stop pretending to be interested when you, Buffy, and your new friends talk about clothes or boys."

"But- but... I love you!" Willow blurted out.

"I know. But there _is_ such a thing as loving someone too much." Xander softly rebuked. "Now, this is going to hurt us both, but I have memories to fall back on to help me, so you go ahead and take Buffy to talk to all you need. I'm going to keep myself as separate as possible for a while until I see you making new friends. Okay?"

Xander received only tears in answer.

* * *

"Hi, Joyce. It's Xander."

"..."

"No. It's fine really. Actually, I'm really hoping you didn't ground her. Willow really needs a friend right now."

"..."

"Well, that's the problem. It's me she's upset about. I'd put her on to explain it, but she's crying too much."

"..."

"Thanks. I really appreciate that. And while Buffy's here, I could come there and we could finish our business? Bonus points if you tell her before she leaves. That might be better punishment than grounding anyway."

"..."

"Yes, I've been told that I'm evil any number of times."

"..."

"Alright. I'll be over in a bit."

* * *

"Is Willow going to be alright?" were the first words out of Joyce's mouth as they sat down in her living room.

Xander sighed, he'd hoped he wouldn't have to explain this, but it seemed that Joyce was just too caring a person to not do anything. "Eventually. I kinda broke up with her."

"Oh, I didn't know you two were dating." Joyce said.

"We weren't. It came to my attention recently that she was/is a little obsessed with me. So, I decided the best thing was to take a break from each other. Let her find her feet without me." Xander explained.

Joyce frowned. It didn't sound like the best way to handle it to her, but it sounded like Xander was behaving fairly maturely. Still, he could have been nicer about it. Wean her off gradually, perhaps. But they had business to get down to.

* * *

Now that he'd made his first sale, he had a safe-deposit box with all his money in it that Joyce had set up for him. With that, finding an apartment would be easy. The other requirement for emancipation would be harder to come by. A _good_ job at least. Still, if it meant out of the Harris house, flipping burgers for a bit might be worth it. Unless... "Joyce. I don't suppose you could use an assistant down at the gallery." He then outlined the requirements for emancipation, including stable employment. Joyce was surprisingly eager. Surprising; as she'd been a little colder since he told her about what had happened with Willow.

With a job in hand, he set out to find a furnished apartment – which was easy in Sunnydale, people disappeared and left all their stuff behind all the time – and paid the first, last, and security deposit in cash. He was told he could move in that day.

Finally, now that he had money, he could do what he'd been itching to do since he realized that Methos' memories weren't leaving any time soon. He could buy a sword.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Swords break.

They chip and they bend and eventually, despite the best care you can give them, every sword will sooner or later break when used as it's supposed to be.

Methos knew exactly what it took to make a good sword. Good steel and a good design. In 1886, Andrew Carnegie revolutionized the steel making process. Pumping out tons of high quality steel at prices that no others could match. So when Methos' sword met its end around that time, the old man actually re-made his own sword from steel bar-stock from Caregie's steel mill and the hilt from his old sword. Don't let anyone fool you. Those people that go on and on about how their sword was folded 1,000 times... that was because the steel for their sword was of poor quality and it needed to be folded like that simply to create a consistent hardness in the steel. However, at the time Methos made his sword, there weren't any sword smiths making the type of sword he wanted, so he made his own.

Probably too heavy and over made for a steel sword but it had felt good in hands that had originally wielded bronze swords. He hadn't set out to make an Ivanhoe blade, he'd simply made the best sword he could and when it was done, people said it was an Ivanhoe.

Xander had already decided that wasn't going to happen this time. The art of sword making had been rediscovered and he could get a decent sword for a reasonable price. That price ended up being a little under $2,000 for everything. Including sharpening, shipping, and a scabbard. Which, compared to the time it had taken Methos to make his sword, was money well spent in Xander's opinion.

If you want to picture his sword, it was an Oakeshott type XVIII, if that means anything to you. A one-handed sword, it was fairly straight until the last third where it tapered to a wickedly sharp point. Perfect for a cut and thrust style of swordsmanship. Pretty much the stereotypical knight's sword. But there was a reason it became stereotypical. It was a good design. And it worked well with Methos' style of swordplay which emphasized quickness over raw power.

The other bonus of the sword was that from now on, he wouldn't have to return Giles' sword to him, which was good, because he wasn't sure how he would do that without seeing Willow.

The steel used to make the sword was also superior to what had been available at the turn of the century. High carbon content made the steel extremely tough, and – a surprise to Xander – the steel actually contained a tiny bit of silicon and chrome impurities to give it more of a 'spring' than normal high carbon steel would have while still giving it a toughness that hadn't been possible even a hundred years ago without causing the steel to become brittle. The chrome also made it more resistant to rust.

* * *

The next day, Xander started his new job at Joyce's art gallery. Pottery from Pluto. "That's an... interesting name for your shop." he said as he entered. He hadn't noticed it before.

"I know. I wish I could think of something better." Joyce frowned. "I mostly specialize in pottery and sculpture over paintings and I wanted a name that would emphasize that. And I just couldn't get the name out of my head."

"You know who Pluto is, right?" Xander made sure.

"Of course. Pluto, also known as Hades, ruler of the underworld in Greek mythology. Also the god of mines and wealth. I'm surprised _you_ know who he is. I'm sure Buffy doesn't have a clue. Neither do most people who stop by. Most people are looking for space junk."

Xander chuckled weakly. "That's not a bad idea."

"What? Space junk? Ugh. Too tacky." Joyce shook her head and waved off the idea.

"Oh well." Xander said, but he didn't really care. The suggestion had only been to redirect Joyce's attention from his worry over the name of her shop. She'd named her shop, which was situated on the Hellmouth, after the Greek god of the Underworld. And _nobody_ noticed. After 5,000 years, Methos was always skeptical of coincidences. Okay, he was skeptical of everything. But now Xander was on alert. He dismissed it to the back of his mind for now though. Nothing had happened in the year that Joyce had owned the shop, nothing was likely to happen until he could do some research.

And for now, there was paperwork to do. Hiring a minor was always a tricky affair. There were strict limits on how long he could work in a day, in a week, and without a clocked-out break. And those rules wouldn't abate once he was emancipated. He filled out all the paperwork required to be hired and then set to work. His first job was sweeping out the store. Not the most glamorous job for the man who had memories that predated all the art in the shop, but you had to start somewhere.

* * *

"Hello, Xander."

"Hello, Buffy."

"That was a really shitty thing you did to Willow. You could have let her down easier." Buffy said coldly as she stood in front of him in the cemetery.

She also swore.

Xander couldn't remember ever hearing her swear before, which told him exactly how angry she was at him. He consciously stopped himself from reaching for his sword. He swallowed instead. "I really couldn't. I took all that Methos knew about human psychology and everything that Xander knew about Willow and the answer was that I had to be ruthless in order to get through to her. I knew it was going to hurt her, but I promise it will be better for her in the end."

"Who are you?" Buffy asked. He'd just referred to himself in the third person with two different names. "The Xander I knew couldn't do what he did to her. Are you Xander or Methos?"

"Yes." was the somewhat pithy reply.

Buffy growled and her hand twitched near a stake.

Xander took a step backwards and started mentally going over the locations of all the nearby mausoleums he could hide behind. "It's the honest answer." he defended, speaking quickly and holding up his empty hands for peace. "Having 5,000 years of memories changed me. But I'm not Methos either. For starters, if you hit me like I think you're about to, I'll probably die. And it's unlikely that I'll come back to life." Xander's comments were rewarded with him seeing the Slayer take a deep breath and slowly let it back out, draining away some, but not all of the tension in her body.

"What am I supposed to say?" Buffy complained.

"To me? Nothing. There's nothing to say. As of right now, I don't expect Willow to talk to me again anytime before college. She's going to need you now more than ever. And it would be great if she made some new friends. But what she needs most right now is to find herself."

"And how should she do that?" Buffy wondered.

"Well, step one would be to figure out some goals in life that aren't Xander-oriented and start working towards them." Xander said. "Other than that, I'm sure there's some self-help books out there. Giles can probably help you find one, being a librarian and all."

Buffy thought about that for a second, started to say something then stopped and turned away. "Xander-" she turned back.

"Thank you for being there for her." Xander interrupted whatever she had to say. "I do love her, even if it doesn't look like it right now."

Buffy swallowed and nodded before turning away.

Xander sighed and continued on with his own patrol.

* * *

Xander's first patrol with his new sword went well. Other than meeting Buffy, he also met up with three vampires – one at a time – and dusted each of them. One had laughed at his sword. Not for very long though. Methos' style (and thus Xander's style) emphasized speedy thrusts to wear an opponent down before moving in for the coup de grâce – beheadings worked equally well on vampires as they did on Immortals. And – as an added bonus – no Quickenings! A fact which Xander was eminently grateful. Methos' memories made one thing clear. Quickenings hurt! But the choice between them and death really was no choice at all.

After dusting those three he narrowly escaped the clutches of a pack of five vampires. His daily running practice paid dividends by saving his life. He was not ready to face five vamps and he knew it. _Know thyself and know thy enemy and you will never lose._ And since he was still alive, he certainly hadn't lost. It was time to head for his apartment and call it a night. _Live. Grow stronger. Fight another day._

* * *

A/N: You'll have to read the story on TTH to see the photo of the sword. Sorry.

A/N2: I didn't really intend for this to be an Emancipation Fic, but I've read a lot of comments in other stories about how Xander 'should just move out of his parent's house'. It's not that simple. It's really freaking difficult to become emancipated. You have to have some money saved up as well as a regular job that pays enough for you to make rent and feed yourself while still going to school full time. Then you have to apply for emancipation with the courts and hope that the judge grants it to you and that your parents don't take offense and don't try to block it. Because they are unlikely to be happy with you if your bid for freedom fails.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11.

Xander's days seemed to flow together. Wake up, run, go to school, get ignored by Willow and Buffy, go to the gallery, work, go home, train, eat dinner, go to bed.

On weekends he lengthened his runs and also sparred against Giles – at Xander's apartment so the girls wouldn't find out. He was getting better and better, winning half of their bouts now. It wouldn't be long until he was winning them all. And he was very grateful to Giles for taking the time to help him improve like this. Though he knew as he improved, Giles was getting more and more out of the bouts himself as well.

Unfortunately, his hectic schedule left him no time or energy to do any actual patrolling since that one time. The second Monday after he got his sword, Xander arrived at court for his emancipation hearing. After the officer who delivered the summons to his parents testified that his parents hadn't even known he'd been gone for two weeks and only his mother had even bothered to show up to contest, the judge declared him free of any and all obligations to them. Joyce cheered for him, having closed the Gallery that day to support him on this.

Joyce took him out to dinner to celebrate.

* * *

It would have been nice if emancipation changed his life in some way by itself, but all it really meant was that he could now 'officially' receive the money he'd gotten from the art auction. Joyce even agreed to waive her commissions on future purchases and sales in exchange for the occasional tip. Xander immediately gave her one he'd been looking at, but had decided against because the capital investment was just too large, even now. But Joyce had deeper pockets than he did, and was able to easily triple her money in a week. She was ecstatic.

After that, his duties at the shop were simply to tell her what he wanted to buy and then tell her what information to add before selling it. She was more than willing to give him the entire year off – with pay – in exchange for that one tip. That absolutely changed his life then.

Not having to work nights or weekends anymore freed up a lot of Xander's time. He was really looking forward to this Saturday's bout against Giles.

Except that Giles never showed up. He tried calling but only got the answering machine. He didn't leave a message for fear that Willow might have been there and he was screening his calls to avoid hurting her.

He didn't get a hold of Giles until Sunday, when he found out that a demon from Giles' past had come back to haunt him – literally. And possess Ms. Calendar too from the sound of things. He was cheered by the fact that the idea to kill the demon had come from Willow. Xander wasn't completely surprised that no one called him, only a little disappointed. But Giles wasn't in any shape to spar that day, so they rescheduled for the next weekend.

* * *

Xander's runs stopped getting any longer. After all, he wasn't training for a marathon. He'd likely never have to run 26.2 miles. But running 3 miles as fast as he could was something that might save his life and actually already had. So his runs started getting faster and more intense. He started pushing himself harder and harder. His goal was to be able to sprint for 3-5 miles.

And come Saturday, he pushed himself harder in his sparring against Giles. He left Giles gasping for breath after their bout.

"You've- you've really improved, Xander. I must say, I'm impressed." Giles complimented, huffing.

"Thank you." Xander was breathing heavily too, just not quiet as bad as Giles. His endurance had greatly improved since their first bout.

"But there's one thing you didn't know." Giles added, straightening up a bit.

"Huh?"

Giles switched his sword to his right hand. "I am not left handed."

Xander was too busy laughing his butt off to properly defend himself for a couple seconds and Giles landed several blows. However, once he was able to suppress the laughter for a few seconds, he was able to prove Giles wrong by disarming him easily. "Wow, the Dread Pirate Giles strikes. Never figured you for pop-culture-man." Xander said while still laughing.

Giles gave a lopsided grin and retrieved his training sword.. "Yes, the fight scene from the movie is actually required viewing for watchers. The footwork of the actors even on uneven terrain is quite good... for a movie."

"I'll have to watch it again. The last time I watched it I wasn't paying attention to the footwork." Xander said and switched to his left hand. "Weak side against weak side?"

Giles tried and failed to contain the glimmer in his eye at that. "Absolutely."

Xander soon found out that Giles was far better with his off hand than Xander was with his. He was now getting a beating to match the one he'd given Giles earlier. Giles had just knocked his sword to the floor and placed the tip of his at Xander's neck. "Surrender?"

"You wish to surrender to me? Very well, I accept." Xander joked. Two could play the quote from Princess Bride game. And Xander was sure to win that one.

Giles rolled his eyes and removed his sword. "Yes, how droll. Anything else you'd like to share?"

Xander smiled, picked up his sword, and switched sword hands again. "I'm not left handed either."

Giles sighed and switched his sword hand too.

* * *

Career Week was not the exciting, fun, week off from school that Xander had been looking forward to only a month earlier. Now, he just saw it as a waste of time. Methos had already done most of the jobs being offered. His plans for the Fair itself were to grab a few brochures to prove he had been there and then blow off the rest of the day to train. Too bad they were only losing half a day this first day to the 'placement tests'. He lounged alone on a couch filling his in, only occasionally paying attention to what he was writing.

"What's the mattow?" Cordelia asked in a baby talk voice as she walked by. "Poow widdle Xander lost all his fwiends?"

"Yes." Xander replied, not looking up from his test.

"Huh?" Cordelia had clearly been expecting more of a reaction, or at least denial.

"Yes." he repeated. "I made some choices a while back that pretty much guaranteed a messy split eventually. Better now than later."

"Ouch. Poor, ugly, and friendless. How much further can you fall?" Cordelia snarked.

Xander finally looked up from his paper. He cast an appraising eye over the Cordettes and gave a snort. "With friends like those, I think I'm the better off of the two of us." He then casually went back to his test, dismissing Cordelia and her friends.

Harmony got in a huff about that. "Oh, yeah? Well at least we're not poor!"

Cordelia shot a glare at her minion. Both for speaking out of turn and for using an unoriginal put-down.

Xander sniffed, took a piece of paper out of his pocket, blew his nose into it, crumpled it up, and threw it at the feet of the Cordettes.

"Eww!" Cordelia wrinkled her nose.

"That's a 50!" one of the girls cried. Three girls went down in a tangle of limbs trying to get the money.

Cordelia and Xander watched with varying degrees of shock and amusement. "Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'dirty money'. Doesn't it?" he quipped.

"Where exactly did you get 50 bucks, dweeb?"

"From my job, of course." Xander vaulted up to sit on the back of the couch to get a better view of the festivities. "You probably haven't heard yet, but I'm emancipated. Got a job and my own apartment."

"Your own apartment?" Aura questioned. She was the only Cordette besides Cordelia not currently getting up from the floor. Her parents were just as rich as the others, but hers gave her a larger allowance, which meant her budget went further than the others. "Your own car too?"

"Aura!?" Cordelia cried, accusingly.

"Not yet." Xander smirked. "But I could probably have one by 7:00 tomorrow night?" he offered.

"Xander!" Cordelia glared.

"Pick me up at my house." Aura winked before heading off. A very disheveled Harmony (clutching something in her hand) and the other almost as disheveled Cordettes followed behind. Cordelia cast one more warning glare at Xander before hurrying to catch up. Xander gave a soft chuckle. So much for a waste of a day. Now all he had to do was buy a car.

* * *

Xander walked into Pottery from Pluto and nodded to Joyce. He waited while she finished up with her customer.

"Xander. Nice to see you again. Did you have some more art you wanted to buy?" She asked.

"Not today, Joyce. I've got a slight problem. Today, I promised this girl at school I would pick her up at 7:00 tomorrow. Only-"

"Only you don't have a car, to my knowledge." Joyce finished.

"Not so much, no." Xander nodded. "But I figured I was emancipated and could pay cash for a used one, didn't figure it was going to be a problem. Except that the dealership didn't want to work with me. Emancipation papers or no."

"Ah, you need me as a go-between? You give me the money and I buy the car for you?" Joyce figured out.

"No. I'll handle those bozos myself. Or maybe get a car in LA where people actually understand the law. I do, however, need a car tomorrow night. And the rental companies won't rent to anyone under 25, emancipated or no. And I don't have the time to try and fight that decision."

Joyce nodded. "Absolutely, I'd be happy to help."

"Thanks, Joyce. If you want to make the reservation tonight, I can come by after school tomorrow and cover the shop for you while you pick it up. And make sure you get all the insurance too. I'm a pretty safe driver, but I don't want you on the hook in case something happens." Xander said.

"Alright. I'll see you tomorrow." Joyce agreed.

* * *

After securing wheels for his date tomorrow night, Xander headed off to patrol. He started off patrolling the alleys downtown. He impaled a green demon on his sword (didn't even have to chop its head off) and got a vamp with a hidden stake while it was busy trying to fend off his sword with a 2X4. It was actually the first time he'd faced an armed opponent who'd been trying to kill him and it took him several minutes in a nearby hardware store to come down off the shakes.

It had been an intense fight. Xander was under no illusions that he would possibly survive a direct blow from the vampire's weapon, sharp or no. A blow to the head would almost certainly be instantly fatal and anywhere else would cripple him enough that he'd be all but finished. But he'd been able to use the vamp's own eagerness to get in for the up close kill to draw him in to be staked.

After the excitement downtown and after finding his feet again, Xander headed out to patrol the cemeteries. He heard some noise coming from a crypt and went to investigate. Then he heard Buffy heading in the same direction. He froze. She froze too and listened for a moment. Then she shrugged and headed towards the crypt. Xander silently made his way back in the opposite direction. He had no desire to have another confrontation/conversation like they'd had the other night. And Buffy was sure to be able to handle whatever was up ahead better than he ever could.

* * *

A/N: Do not own the Princess Bride


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

"Wow, you sure clean up nicely." Aura complimented.

"And you look incredible, as always." Xander picked up her hand and gave it a quick peck.

Aura blushed at the combination of the compliment and the kiss. "Is that your car? It's very nice." she waved her hand at the luxury car Xander had driven to her house.

"Would that it were, but no. I had some unexpected issues dealing with the dealerships. So I convinced my boss to rent this for me and take it out of my pay." Xander offered her his elbow as he walked her to the car. He opened the door for her then walked around to his side.

"You must have an awesome boss." Aura said as Xander sat down and started the car.

"I do." Xander agreed.

* * *

Dinner was not at the most expensive restaurant in town, but it was still at a very nice one. And this one had a dance floor and a live band that was playing soothing music. No one was on the dance floor though. When they were mostly through with their dinner, Xander stood up. "May I have this dance?" he offered her his hand.

"No one else is dancing." Aura looked around, slightly panicked that others might be looking at them. "It's not even good dancing music."

"They'll change when we get on the dance floor." Xander promised.

Aura reluctantly placed her hand in his and was pulled to her feet. And, just as Xander said, once the band leader saw that they wanted to dance, the song magically changed to something more upbeat. Xander took one hand and put his other on her waist. She followed suit and put her other hand on his shoulder. Then she followed his lead.

After a minute she was starting to get the hang of the dance and was beginning to relax, just in time for Xander to add spins and twirls to the moves. Finally, he finished the song with a dip, their faces inches apart and both breathing heavily. Soft applause broke any spell that might have been. Xander pulled her to her feet again and bowed to the crowd, then waved to the band. "And lets hear it for our musicians tonight. Aren't they wonderful?"

As Xander led her from the dance floor, it was all she could do to walk steadily when he said he had dessert waiting for them back at his apartment.

* * *

As Xander rolled off Aura, he had the decency to feel at least slightly ashamed. He had used Methos' 5,000 years of memories to seduce a woman to his bed. Still, she had gone freely and enjoyed herself at least as much as he had if her cries of pleasure were anything to go by, or the way she was cuddling into him now. He rubbed a hand down the soft skin of her back despite his reservations.

"Don't fall asleep." he warned.

"But you're so warm." she said, sleepily.

"A know. But it's a school night." Xander reminded her. "And as stunning as your cocktail dress is, I doubt you want to wear it to school tomorrow. Plus I think your parents might worry if you slept over."

Aura shot up in bed, her breasts bouncing with the sudden movement. "Oh, crap." she said. She grabbed the sheets to cover them like she'd seen women do in so many movies; despite the fact that she had just been cuddled naked next to Xander a moment ago.

Xander chuckled and swung naked onto the floor where he found his own boxers and pulled them on. He gathered up the rest of his clothes. "I'll leave you to get dressed then." Once he was dressed, he started a pot of coffee. It had been a while for Methos before he'd invaded Xander's body and it had been Xander's first time in his own body. He wasn't even annoyed that she'd insisted on using a condom. It wasn't like he could give or get anything from her and it gave her security that allowed her to enjoy it more.

Wait no.

A thought just occurred to him. Immortals were infertile. Could never have children, even before they died their first death. But Xander wasn't an Immortal. He actually could have children. Or could he? There was one thought that nagged him at least once a day. He wasn't an Immortal. But could he be? He had no way of knowing for sure, short of shoving a knife through his heart. But now, he'd just thought of a way. He could check his semen and find out.

Aura joined him just after the coffee finished brewing and interrupted his thoughts.. "It's decaff, if you want some." he told her.

"God, yes." she poured herself a cup then sat across from Xander in his living room. She tried not to look horribly uncomfortable.

"So, the uncomfortable explanations after the passion wears off and you realize that you just had sex with Xander Harris." Xander started. Her reaction to his words told him all he needed to know. She was breaking up with him. Or as close as you could come when you weren't really together to begin with.

"It's not like that." Aura began.

"Aura." Xander cut her off. He tried to keep the humor out of his voice at the fact that she was breaking up with him while he'd been debating breaking up with her. "We come from very different worlds. To be honest, I was surprised that you agreed to date me at all." Actually, he'd figured that one of the Cordettes would go for his display of money and power. He just hadn't anticipated it to be the nicest one.

"And you can't ever tell anyone..." she trailed off.

Xander nodded. "You can rely on my discretion, madam." he said seriously. "Shall I take you home now?"

* * *

The next day, Giles approached Xander after lunch. "Xander. Do you have a moment?" Giles began. "Are you familiar with a group called the order of Taraka?"

Xander swallowed thickly and closed his eyes for a moment. "Giles, tell me you're in a bowling league and needed a catchy name for your team." Giles shook his head gravely. Xander sighed. "Then it's likely that they're a group of assassins. If they're anything like the group Methos knew, they're fairly old and particularly determined. Do I even want to know why you asked?"

"Fairly-? Oh. I suppose 3,000 years isn't a huge amount of time compared with 5,000." Giles realized. "Anyway. It appears that they have a contract for Buffy. She killed one of them last night. I- uh, gave her some words of caution this morning when she gave me his ring." Giles passed over a large ring with the Tarakan symbol on it. Xander glanced at it and passed it back. "And now I can no longer find her. She didn't eat lunch here and Willow checked the restrooms for me. I was wondering-"

"If I could search for her?" Xander finished.

"Indeed. I mentioned that hiding from them would be a good idea, but I forgot to mention that she should leave us her address and phone number so we could contact her." Giles half-joked despite the seriousness of the situation.

"I'll swing by her house then see if I can find some demons to torture for information." Xander said. "Cover for me with the troll?"

"You were in the library helping me sort the card catalog most of the afternoon. Only stepping out if he happened by." Giles agreed.

Before he got more than ten feet from the Library though, he was accosted by Cordelia Chase. "Xander Harris!" she hissed at him. "What did you do to Aura?"

"Do? I didn't do anything, Cordelia." Xander said condescendingly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have important business to see to."

"Like anything you're ever going to do is important, Harris." Cordy shot back. "What the hell happened on your 'date'." she made air quotes around the last word.

"I picked her up, we had dinner, danced, then went back to my place to talk. Where we mutually decided that even though we both had a nice time, we came from very different worlds and that for now, we weren't going to see each other any more. Now excuse me." he tried to move past Cordelia again but was again blocked.

"So, she dumped you after one date? Ha! You're such a loser, Harris. At least she came to her senses before you two did something. I may let her back in after all. With a suitable amount of grovelling, of course." Cordelia look gleeful.

"Great." Xander finally snuck past her as she was distracted by her thoughts.

"Hey! Don't think this lets you off the hook for trying to date one of my girls out from under me. You're on my list, buster!" she called after him.

Xander just waved without looking back. He knew ignoring her was only going to tick her off more, which is why he did it. On his way out, he passed the police booth and the woman there gave him a funny look after looking at the places where he had concealed weapons. (1 stake and 2 knives) He gave her an extra glance as well. Her uniform lacked a city name or any other identifying features. It just said Metropolitan Police. She was also wearing a ring that on brief inspection looked to be the same size, shape, and color as the Tarakan ring he had held a few minutes ago. He really hoped that she didn't notice the slight hitch in his step as he passed her or he was about to get a bullet in his back. It was unlikely that she'd break cover for someone who wasn't her target, but he still didn't relax until he was around the corner and out of her line of fire.

He briefly debated with himself about not telling Giles about the assassin and just dealing with her after school himself, but decided that that would be a stupid idea if Buffy happened to show up again. He found an empty classroom and used the phone to call the library's extension.

"Rupert Giles."

"Giles, Xander. There's one in the school."

"Good Lord, are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Well, I didn't ask to see her pretty ring, but pretty sure. Keep Buffy away from the career fair if she comes back."

"Which one is it?" Giles demanded.

"Giles, no. I know you want to protect Buffy from this. But as long as Buffy is elsewhere, then the best place for this assassin to be is in the school. I'll be back before school is over and _together_ we'll protect Buffy from this." Xander stated.

"Xander, I can't let you-" Giles began.

"Of the two of us, only one has experience... okay, well, memories of dealing with these people. I'm helping and that's final. Don't worry, I've got a plan that requires both of us. And don't go looking for them. You'll just spook them and then they'll be ten times as dangerous." Xander reasoned.

Giles was quiet for a time. "Stay safe." he finally said before he hung up.

* * *

Breaking into Buffy's house was fairly easy as there was a window left open. He searched the house starting upstairs and finishing with the basement. Nothing. He let himself out by the same window. Nothing was there except a creepy feeling of being watched. He'd lay money on Buffy's house being under surveillance. Possibly by a sniper with a high powered rifle. He found a payphone and called Giles to make sure he hadn't gone after the assassin and to inform him of the feeling of being watched while at Buffy's so he could warn her off of going there if she contacted him.

Then he headed back to school.

* * *

"A police-woman!? Are you sure?" Giles asked.

"Disguising yourself as one of the castle guards or a night watchman is a very old assassins' trick. Since people starting living in groups too large to know every person."

Giles shrugged at that. "I suppose. Do you have a plan?"

"Well, her uniform didn't have any markings on it, so it's pretty clear that she's not a real cop. But it's risky trying to fight someone in a police uniform. They're going to get the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise. We could follow her home so she can change out of the uniform before we take her. But then she'll be in a place of strength and she could make us before we attack and cost us the element of surprise. Probably safer to take her here." Xander reasoned.

"We'll have to be fast." Giles said. "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but a gun would be useful right about now."

Xander frowned. "Too noisy. We need this to be quick and quiet. The crossbow should do. Are you a good shot?" he waited for Giles to nod. "Good. Then I'll be the decoy. Draw her out."

It was then Giles' turn to frown. "No. I can't allow that. It's too dangerous."

"It's either that, or your Slayer has to face her. We need bait to get her alone so neither of us faces murder charges. Our other choice would be to dress someone up as Buffy and let the assassin chase them into an ambush."

* * *

"Hey, Xander! Here." Jonathan handed Xander a slip of paper. "Mr. Giles said to give you this note and that Buffy was waiting for you in the library."

Xander smiled at Jono in real thankfulness. He was standing only a few feet from the Police booth and he couldn't help but notice that the policewoman had perked up at the mention of Buffy's name. "Thanks, Jono." he said and started ambling towards the library, knowing that the woman would be close behind. He didn't dare even glance behind himself though.

Once he passed the library doors and was out of sight, Xander broke into a run for a couple seconds and disappeared into Giles' office before the assassin could get to the doors. When he heard the doors open again, he called out, "Hey, Buffy! Catch!" and bounced a red kickball slowly across the floor of the library. The theory was that the ball and Buffy's name would attract the assassin's attention which would allow Giles to get set up in the stacks with his crossbow while she was distracted. Xander listened for the TWANG! and THUMP! that marked Giles shot.

Hearing his cue, he sprang from hiding. The assassin had a crossbow bolt stuck deeply in the right side of her chest. Xander used Methos' memories to catalog the wound as a mortal wound to the lungs that had probably only just missed her heart. She would not survive. But she wasn't dead yet and she was already switching her gun to her left hand and drawing a bead on where Giles had fired from. She noticed Xander charging at her and she shifted towards the nearer threat. Xander threw his first weapon.

Now don't believe what TV and movies try to tell you about throwing knives. In order to be done correctly, you have to expertly measure the distance, know your knives perfectly, train for years upon years, and be freakishly lucky on top of that. Even then, you'll be lucky to just get a hit, much less a fatal hit. So unless you're a perennially bored psychopathic killer with a penchant for killing with style who also happens to be Immortal, you're just not going to kill anyone with throwing knives. Even as he threw his own weapon, part of his mind wondered how many centuries Kronos had practiced throwing that dagger before it sunk into his heart.

But Xander's weapon was not a knife. Xander's weapon was a rock. Yes, a rock. Thrown with all his might at an unarmored head, it could be just as fatal as a knife to the heart and even quicker to bring someone down. Unfortunately, baseball had never been Xander's sport of choice and even at the short distance, his aim was off, only hitting her in the shoulder. Still the flinch that caused bought him enough time to bring his other weapon to bear. And no, not his sword. Just a baseball bat. This particular bat had its tip sharpened to be useful against vampires and anything else that didn't like a sharp piece of wood shoved through its heart. But that wasn't what Xander needed right now. He used the sharpened bat, surprisingly, as a bat. Taking a solid whack at the assassin's wrist, knocking her gun from her hand and coincidentally breaking her wrist at the same time.

She was a pro. She hadn't called out when she'd been shot and she didn't cry out with her wrist hanging at an odd angle. By now, blood was starting to dribble from the corners of her mouth. Not the purple corn syrup they show on TV but the pink, frothy blood of a true lung-shot. But she wasn't done yet. She still had one good arm and apparently at least one backup weapon even though it had to hurt to reach from her injured side. Xander wasted no time and swung at her other arm with a satisfying CRACK!

"I believe that's enough, Xander." Giles said as he came out of the stacks with a reloaded crossbow.

"She was reaching for another weapon." Xander said without taking his eyes off her.

"Oh, well in that case, never mind." Giles replied. He ducked into his office and came back with a small case and a plastic sheet. Xander helped get the assassin onto the sheet then Giles turned to him. "Perhaps it's time you leave."

"Whatever you're about to do to this woman, I assure you, Methos has done worse. Many times."

Giles decided not to argue the point and instead turned back towards the woman.

"You don't have much time. So we'll have to get the torture done rather quickly, I'm afraid. Or... you can simply tell us who hired you to kill Buffy and I have," Giles produced a syringe and a vial, "a large shot of morphine to ease your passing. I'm sorry to have to tell you this," he pulled out the other ring Buffy had already taken, "but Buffy is not only the Slayer but she is also part of a larger demon-hunting organization. The Order of Taraka has simply bitten off more than it can chew this time. So, tell us the name or we will teach the Tarakans what it means to be hunted."

Xander realized that Giles could be fucking scary when he wanted.

The woman debated for only a few seconds before giving up a gurgle that sounded like 'Spike'. Apparently the order of Taraka didn't have a policy about ratting on your employer. After confirming that was indeed what she meant, Giles sent her painlessly onto the next life.

* * *

A/N: What's the first thing that most 17 year old guys would do with 5,000 years of knowledge? Use it to get laid, of course.

A/N2: Some people may ask, why didn't Norman attack like he did in canon? To which I reply, in canon, Cordelia (a female) was with him. Norman seemed to be able to differentiate between male and female at least even if he couldn't tell one individual from another.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13.

After they took care of Patrice, as her ID said, and they divided up the spoils; Xander agreed to search Sunnydale for Buffy and check in with Giles every couple hours to see if she called or went home. With the career fair on, it wasn't like he needed the sleep anyway.

Many hours later it was nearing sunrise and Xander hadn't seen hide nor hair of Buffy. Nor had any demons told him anything useful. Though he had killed a bunch of demons just after 2 AM. He made a mental note to ask when Buffy usually stopped patrolling and suggest that she extend that through 2 o'clock occasionally. He was downtown once more when he saw Angel turn a corner ahead of him. Not that he liked the bloodsucker, but he was willing to be cordial and see if he'd seen or heard from Buffy lately. Before he could quicken his pace though, a young, black girl turned the same corner as Angel. She didn't even glance at Xander, but he followed her intense gaze. She was following Angel, who seemed oblivious. Angel turned into a bar and the girl picked up her pace before entering behind him. Xander waited until she was inside before breaking into a jog himself.

As he got to the bar door, he was almost run over by a bystander trying to escape.

"You don't want to go in there, friend." the man said. "Bar's closed."

"Figured that out from the unlit 'open' sign. But I'm going in anyways."

The man didn't try to stop him again and instead took off for safer pastures.

Once the guy was gone, Xander drew his sword and entered quietly. The sight that met him was not what he expected. Angel was locked in a cage and the girl was taunting him from the other side. She was clearly much more than she seemed.

"I'm afraid you are not in a position to t'reaten." she said with a thick accent.

Angel attacked the cage. "When I get outta here I'll do more than threaten!" he threatened.

Xander stowed his sword before either of them noticed he was there. He walked to the bar and picked up a mug. "Hey, Angel. You seen Buffy around?" he asked casually as he filled that mug with beer. Both people in the back room quickly turned their attention to him as he took a sip. "Gods! This is possibly the worst beer I've ever tasted. It's worse than yak piss."

"That might actually be yak piss." Angel said. "Willy's got it on tap. But you need to get out of here Harris. This girl isn't what she seems."

"No shit, moron. She took you. Obviously she's not human. But not a vampire?" Xander inquired.

"She's after Buffy." Angel warned.

Xander had a hand on the gun he'd only recently acquired from the assassin-cop and was a half second from using it. All it took was for the woman to attack him.

She was fast. She'd traveled two steps before he'd even gotten the gun free. He was already firing before he'd even taken aim. The first shot missed but the second couldn't help but hit at that short of range. She was on him by the third. She was strong. Stronger and faster than Buffy even.

She grabbed Xander's hands and thrust them skyward to avoid being shot any more and drove a knee into Xander's side. He went with it to lessen the damage it would cause but it really hurt! It hurt a lot more than sparring with Buffy ever did. Xander didn't bother trying to get the gun back and instead just moved his hands forward a little a bit as he dropped the gun. The idea was to get the gun to drop on her head and distract her. It worked just enough. He broke out of her superhuman grip and kicked off her. Another jolt to her already damaged torso and to his as well, but his wound wasn't fatal. In the dark and with her dark shirt, he couldn't tell where he'd hit her, only that the grunt of pain from his kick told him he'd definitely hit. Now he just had to survive long enough for the copper and lead to do their job.

After kicking off, he hit the door frame. He winced at the renewed pain from the blow she'd given him. Another blow like that and he might be done for himself. The momentum of the sword in his coat swinging backwards with him made it easier to draw the other weapon. He circled out of the doorway with his sword drawn, looking for room to maneuver in the small bar. He wasn't about to attack when she was already wounded but apparently, she new that.

She tried to kick his sword out of his hands like you see in the movies all the time but Xander simply moved his sword out of the way and then stabbed forward, forcing her to jump back quickly or get skewered. Super speed or no, that shit didn't work in real life, not when he'd been training against Buffy.

Xander again waited. He had time, while her breathing was becoming difficult. A flying jump kick nearly took off his head, but was telegraphed enough that he had ducked out of the way in time. In fact, he had time to strike from underneath her as she kicked at the wall. Sure, stabbing her in the butt wasn't very noble, but it should hobble her pretty well and allow him to get out of the fight alive.

Her cry of pain as she hit the wall and tried to use the injured glutes made him very happy. And the crash as she hit the table was music to his ears. Not that causing pain made him happy, but it could very well signal an end to this very dangerous and painful fight. She rolled off the table onto the floor and tried to stand, but collapsed again. When she did not immediately get up, he shuffled over towards the entrance and picked up his gun. With the gun now trained on her, he made his way over to Angel's cage.

"She's not dead." Angel informed him. "I can hear; her breathing is labored though."

"Got a key for this lock?" Xander asked without looking at him.

"There's a crowbar over against the wall." Angel said.

Xander was loathe to put down even one of his weapons but eventually he had to set his sword against the cage and pocket his gun. He kept his eyes on the assassin while he used both hands to wrench the lock open.

He barely got a "thanks" as Angel exited his prison.

Xander took up his weapons again as they approached the dying woman.

"You- you can't stop- me. When I- when I die, anoder- anoder will be called."

"Yeah, we know how you work." Angel said. Tarakans didn't stop, they knew that. "You really shouldn't have taken this job."

The girl looked confused, but it might have been the lack of blood getting to her brain. "It is not a job." she whispered. "It is a calling."

Both men frowned at that, but before they could say anything, a wracking cough claimed the assassin. Xander gave Angel his sword to give her the mercy stroke. There was no way he was going within range of her arms. He was going to be sore for weeks from the single blow he received as it was. He really wished for Methos' Immortal healing right now.

Angel stabbed the assassin through the heart and she stilled a few moments later. He pulled the sword out, cleaned the blade, and ran an experienced eye over it. "Good sword."

"Did Buffy tell you?"

"The memories?" Angel nodded yes and handed the sword back hilt first.

"Came in handy here." Xander acknowledged as he pulled out a handkerchief and cleaned the weapon a second time.

Angel bent down to examine the body of their opponent. "No ring."

Xander failed to control a sharp intake of breath at that. One group of ruthless assassins was enough. An unknown group who was also gunning for them was just too much. Murphy was clearly laughing at them. He shook his head. "No. She said another would be sent. She probably just lost it in the fight or hid it somewhere beforehand." Occam's Razor after all.

"Are you okay?" Angel asked, concern etched on his face.

"No." Xander replied honestly. "I'm going to need you to walk me to school if you don't mind. It's been a really long day, she got in a good shot, and I need some sleep."

"School? Not home?" Angel wondered.

"Career week. I get credit just for showing up even if I sleep the day away. Just need to make an appearance." he explained.

* * *

As they walked, Xander explained about what he and Giles had found out. And about the funny feeling he'd had when he visited Buffy's place. Angel promised to take a look from a few sewer access tunnels that were near Buffy's house. Xander was a bit worried about those, but Angel assured him that he regularly patrolled there and there was no danger to Buffy from them.

"So, what were you doing in that bar anyway?" Xander asked.

"Willie, the owner hears most of what goes on in the underground. But you gotta rough him up a little or he won't spill. I found out who ordered the order of Taraka."

"Yeah, Spike. We found that out like 12 hours ago. What else?" Xander said.

"Nothing. That assassin stopped me before he could tell me where he's at." Angel said. "And why didn't you tell me you already knew it was Spike?"

"You didn't exactly stop by the library before you headed out. Why didn't you tell us all we had to do was beat on your snitch to find out this info?" Xander replied. "And was he the guy that almost ran me over when I came in here?"

"Yeah, that's Willie." Angel confirmed.

* * *

**OMAKE: (When the Omake is half again as long as the chapter.) I started with this but ran into horrible writer's block that wouldn't abate until I'd killed Kendra. Sorry to Kendra fans, but Yay! for Faith fans.**

* * *

**Xander stowed his sword before either of them noticed he was there. He walked to the bar and picked up a mug. "Hey, Angel. You seen Buffy around?" he asked casually as he filled that mug with beer. Both people in the back room quickly turned their attention to him as he took a sip. "God. This is possibly the worst beer I've ever tasted. It's worse than yak piss."**

"**That might actually be yak piss." Angel said. "Willy's got it on tap. But you need to get out of here Xander. This girl isn't what she seems."**

"**No shit, moron. She took you. Obviously she's not human. But not a vampire?" Xander inquired.**

**The girl looked between the two men. "If you are friends wit' da vampire, den you die too." she said and started advancing towards Xander.**

**Xander threw the yak's piss at her feet which made her jump back from the broken glass. "Woah. _Friends_? Nooo. Do you see me rushing to unlock his broodiness? Not a chance." Xander had a hand on the gun he'd only recently acquired from the assassin and was a half second from using it.**

"**Den who are you?" she asked, taking up a fighting stance but not advancing.**

"**Me? Who are you? You come into _my_ town and start locking up vampires for no good reason and you want to ask me who I am?" **

**The girl seemed to consider his words for a moment. "I am Kendra, de Vampire Slayer."**

"**Impossible. How could you be called so quickly?" Xander denied. Angel also roared in denial and rattled his cage.**

"**I was called six mont's ago." Kendra stated looking between the men her words had upset.**

**Xander counted on his fingers then he and Angel looked at each other. "The Master's cave." they both said at the same time with a similar sigh of relief.**

"**What does that mean?" Kendra asked. Not liking that both men were in agreement. **

**Xander took the question. "We both know... _a_ Slayer as well. She kind of drowned about six months ago but a little CPR brought her back, good as new."**

"**Impossible." it was Kendra's turn for denial. "My watcher would have told me."**

"**Well, why don't we ask Buffy's watcher?" Xander offered, finally taking his hand casually away from where the gun was tucked.**

"**Fine, but we leave da vampire here." Kendra nodded.**

**Xander smirked. "Leave him in the cage for all I care. But we don't need to go anywhere thanks to the modern miracle that is the telephone." with that he produced a phone from behind the bar and dialed a number by heart.**

"**Giles."**

"**..."**

"**Yeah, just me. No I haven't found her yet. Now don't freak out, but do you remember how that prophesy said that Buffy was going to die that one night. Well, I guess she did."**

"**..."**

"**Because I'm in a bar with a girl who just kicked Angel's ass and claims to be a Slayer."**

"**_Dee_ Slayer." Kendra added.**

"**Sorry. _The_ Slayer." Xander amended. **

"**..."**

"**Alright. Let me introduce you to Kendra, _The_ Vampire Slayer." Xander said as he set the phone down and backed away.**

* * *

**Hearing only Kendra's side of the conversation was fairly boring. A bunch of 'yes, sir's' and 'no, sir's' with one 'Mr. Zabuto' thrown in for variety. Finally she hung up.**

"**He said we should meet at da school and dat you would know da way." Kendra said. Then she frowned at Angel. "He said dat we should bring de vampire."**

"**Yeah, I don't like him much either. But I haven't had cause to kill him yet. Though if you want to stake him, I won't tell anyone." Xander said.**

"**Hey!" Angel said.**

**Kendra smiled conspiratorially then sighed. "No. I already told Mr. Giles dat 'ee was not dust. We would have to t'ink up a reason he is now dust."**

"**Oh well. Guy can dream. You got a key for that lock?"**

**Kendra walked into the back room and picked up a crowbar. "Not exactly." she paused before busting him out though. "If he's one of da good guys, why was he attacking dat man?"**

**Xander stepped up next to her. "I'm curious too. Fallen off the wagon, have we Angel?"**

"**I was just roughing up Willie. You gotta or he won't spill the info. I found out who ordered the order of Taraka."**

"**Yeah, Spike. We found that out like 12 hours ago. What else?" Xander said.**

"**Nothing. She stopped me before he could tell me where he's at." Angel said. "And why didn't you tell me you already knew it was Spike?"**

"**You didn't exactly stop by the library before you headed out. Why didn't you tell us all we had to do was beat on your snitch to find out this info?" Xander replied. "And was he the guy that almost ran me over when I came in here?"**

"**Yeah, that's Willie." Angel confirmed. "Now let me outta here."**

"**Do we let'im out?" Kendra asked.**

**Xander shrugged. "Since you already told Giles."**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

Xander hissed. "Yeah, it's bruised, thanks for noticing."

"Yes. Yes, it is. But there doesn't seem to be any internal bleeding, at least." Giles nodded as he finished the examination as gently as he could.

"I could have told you that. Technically, I'm a doctor." Xander frowned as he lowered his shirt back down.

"Ah, yes. I guess I forgot that." Giles shrugged.

"Ri-ight." Xander frowned. It had been bad enough having 5,000 years of memories in Methos' rather young looking body. He was constantly underestimated; good in the game, annoying in life. In Xander's body people were downright patronizing.

"Yes, well. Thank you, Angel, for bringing him back safely." Giles said.

"I just escorted him. He's the one that saved me." Angel insisted as he looked out the window at the brightening sky. "I should go. It's been a long night. I'll check the busiest tunnels on my way home and call if I find her."

Xander hopped down from the checkout counter/exam table and headed for the front doors of the library while Angel headed for the back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Giles asked.

"Attendance." Xander said. "I'll be back later for a good long nap, don't worry. I already miss a constitution that could go several days without sleep when needed."

Giles frowned but nodded. "Be careful." he ordered. He knew he was being a bit overprotective, but when one of your charges takes on a supernaturally strong assassin and not only survives, but wins, well... he was nearly ready to wrap the boy in bubble wrap for a week. But for now, a little sleep of his own was in order.

* * *

Angel cautiously entered his apartment upon finding the door broken.

"Buffy! Where have you been all night? We've been looking all over town for you." Angel said as he entered his apartment and noticed the girl sleeping there. He wasn't sure if he was more annoyed that he hadn't thought to look here, that she hadn't told anyone she was here, or that she had spent the night behind a door with a broken lock when assassins were out to get her.

Buffy blinked to clear her mind and get her bearings. Oh, yeah. Angel's apartment. She'd only laid down for a minute... "We?"

"Xander and I were out all night looking for you. Giles was up all night calling and waiting for you to show up there or for Xander to call that he'd found you. I think Willow was up researching the Order of Taraka, but I'm not sure." she had kind of hid when he and Xander had walked into the library. No one bothered to explain why.

Buffy at least had the decency to look abashed at the trouble she'd unknowingly put her friends through. "Sorry. I just needed a place to think and I didn't want to go home. I only closed my eyes for like, a second."

"It's probably good that you didn't go home." Angel said then explained how Xander had felt like he was being watched when he'd broken into their house.

"Well good. Serves him right. He was probably going through my diary or something. The feeling of being watched was just an extension of his guilt." Buffy asserted.

"Buffy. He helped Giles take down an assassin yesterday afternoon and took down another one all by himself that had already almost taken me." Angel informed her.

"Xander." it was halfway between a question and a statement. Like Buffy just couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Xander." Angel agreed. "Listen. No one told me anything, but I realize that something happened either between you and Xander or Willow and Xander; and I gotta tell you, now is the time to-"

Angel never got to finish that sentence as his door exploded open and vampires started pouring through.

* * *

The ringing phone rousted him from his sleep. He shook his head to clear the cobwebs and get his brain in gear. He answered on the third ring. "Rupert Giles."

"..."

"Buffy! Where have you been?"

"..."

"I know I told you that, but we were supposed to agree on a place together, so that we wouldn't worry about you and could contact you if we found any assassins. By the way, tell me you aren't at your house."

"..."

"Oh, good. Ah, Angel told you. Where are you then?"

"..."

"Buffy. Buffy, slow down. You're at Angel's because you were attacked?"

"..."

"I see. But you are both alright after the attack?"

"..."

"Good to hear. And yes, the school should be safe. We've already taken care of the assassin that was here."

"..."

"So kind of you to think so. But I assure you, you're not in this fight alone. Xander helped with that one too."

"..."

"They... nodded to one another and are both currently asleep on opposite sides of the area with the bean-bag chairs. I suppose it's a start. But do come back, won't you?"

"..."

"Very well. I'll see you soon." Giles hung up.

"On her way?" Xander asked from the doorway.

"Indeed. It seems she was sleeping at Angel's flat the whole time. Some of Spike's men attacked them early this morning but no Tarakans were with them." Giles said.

"Well, we already killed three of them." Xander pointed out. "I don't know about in your world, but in Methos' world, if a target survived three assassins then the price went up. Because that meant that the target was no ordinary target and they were misled about his or her abilities."

"So, it's possible the threat is over?" Giles asked hopefully.

"Maybe. I'd feel better if the last one had been wearing a ring. As it stands, she could have been an independent bounty hunter and there could be another Tarakan still waiting at Buffy's house."

"Good lord. I'm getting too old for this." Giles place his head in his hands.

Xander smirked. "Speak for yourself."

That at least earned a chuckle from the librarian.

"Joyce is coming back Friday." At a look, Xander went on. "I saw it on their calendar when I checked for Buffy. We need to get Buffy in there Thursday so we can see if there is still an assassin watching there or if our girl was the last. I need you to come up with a vest that can take a direct hit from a high-powered rifle."

"You're sure that's the method the assassin will use? Why?" Giles clarified.

Xander looked away. "No. But that's how I would do it." After an eternity, he spoke again. "I'll see you here after school Thursday."

Giles was left to his own musings. Finally, he went back to his research.

* * *

Spike was not a happy camper. The rest, well last, assassin from the Order of Taraka had packed up and left. He hadn't said anything (creepy, that) but had handed Spike a letter that said the contract on the Slayer had been fulfilled. A new Slayer had been called, their seers said.

Dalton his brainy vamp had found the cure to Drusilla's sickness and he'd sent out his minions after Angel. Only one had come back from Angel's apartment, the rest having turned to dust by Angel and "THE GOD-DAMNED SLAYER!" he roared as he sent the bearer of bad tidings to join his mates.

The Slayer still lived (he was going to have a talk with the Tarakans about that) and now he was too low on minions to make another play on Angel before the new moon.

A knock sounded on the door and a vampire in human-face walked in. He'd been turned young, and certainly wasn't ancient, but he did have a certain swagger. "Excuse me, I couldn't help but overhear. You're having problems with the Slayer."

Before Spike could answer, Drusilla appeared. "Yes. She's being an awful pest, she is. I believe we need an exterminator."

A grin spread over Ford's face. "Then I'm your man- demon- thing- whatever."

Spike just shook his head. They were doomed.

* * *

After school was the first time the whole Scooby gang had been willingly together since the break up. Giles had just finished explaining to Willow Xander's part in defeating two assassins. He looked at the clock on the wall.

"Angel's late." Xander observed.

"No matter." Giles replied. "We'll fill him in later. This is too important to wait. I've discovered the remaining keys to Drusilla's cure. The, uh, the ritual requires the presence of her sire, and it must take place in a church on the night of the new moon."

"And Angel's late." Buffy sighed. "Don't tell me, the new moon is tonight?"

Giles nodded.

"Angel. Angel is Drusilla's sire." she admitted. "Will this ritual kill him?"

"Yes, I'm afraid it will." Giles said gravely.

"We need to find this church. We need to find where this ritual is gonna take place!" Buffy announced.

Giles checked his watch. "Agreed, and we must work quickly. We have five hours before sundown."

"Don't worry, Buffy, we'll save Angel." Willow declared as she opened her laptop.

* * *

After an hour, Xander realized they weren't going to find the church in time through research. He stood up. "I'm going to go hit up Willie, Angel's snitch."

"You're injured." Buffy remembered. "I'm coming with you."

Xander wanted to object, but the mere act of standing up had reminded him of the truth. "Fine. Swing by Angel's place and make sure he didn't just oversleep and meet me there."

"I'm staying with you." Buffy insisted.

"I'm injured, remember? I'll just slow you down. Meet me there." Xander insisted.

* * *

Buffy was surprised to see Xander actually waiting for her outside Willie's Bar. She had suspected that sending her to Angel's was just a ploy so he could 'question' Willie alone. Instead, he had waited for her, just like he'd said.

"Ready?" he asked and she led the way into the dimly lit bar.

Willie was busy mopping the floor where the last assassin had died. His eyes went wide when he realized who had just walked into his bar. "Hi, kids! Can I interest you in a beer? On the house!"

Buffy pinned the slimy man to the wall. "Where's this ritual happening?"

"I- I- I don't know anything! I-it's all hush-hush!" Willie pleaded.

Xander kept his face perfectly blank. "Tie him to a chair, then leave."

Buffy gave him a questioning glance.

"You don't want to see what I'm about to do to him." Xander said, his face and voice both perfectly calm and free of emotion.

"Xander killed more Tarakans than me. And he knows how to make people talk." Buffy said as he let Willie fall to his feet and started to drag him to a chair.

Willy looked around nervously but didn't make a break for it. Xander was between him and the door, arms crossed lightly in front of himself. He started talking when Buffy came out of the back room with a length of rope. "You know, m-maybe I did hear something about this ritual. Yeah, i-i... i-it's coming back to me. But, uh, I'd have to take you there." he said as she started tying him up.

Buffy stopped tying. "Let's go." She lifted him to his feet with the rope still holding his arms to his sides.

"Aren't you going to untie me?"

"No."


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15.

"I say we should call Willow and Giles." Buffy stated again.

"Buffy. Willow could barely stand to be in the same room as me. I don't think calling her as backup is a good plan. And I don't think you can invite Giles and me without insulting her." Xander countered.

"Now, see. This is good. Talking is good at this stage in the relationship." A still tied up Willie interjected.

"Shut up!" both of the others said at the same time.

"Fine. Call them. But make sure that Giles brings a sword, because he's shite with a crossbow." Xander said.

"I thought he took down that assassin with a crossbow?" Buffy countered as she turned and dragged Willie to a payphone.

"Yeah, but he missed the heart. At a distance he should have been dead on at. He'll be better off with a sword. Give Willow the crossbow."

Buffy towed Willie over to a nearby payphone and dialed the direct number for the library. "Giles. It's us." Buffy spoke into the phone.

"..."

"Willie's taking us to the church. We're heading west. There's only a couple churches left that it could be."

"The Episcopal one is closed, it's the most likely." Xander added.

"You get that?"

"..."

"Okay. Try to hurry. And-" she paused. "bring your sword." Buffy gave Xander a dirty look at that, but she'd acquiesced all the same.

"Way to wear the pants in the family." Willie nodded to him.

"Buff, could you hit him for me?" Xander asked over-sweetly.

Buffy did, though the ropes across his chest actually provided pretty good padding for the bartender and he didn't get the full force of the blow Buffy had already pulled so he'd still be useful to them. It still felt like getting hit by a sledgehammer.

"Come on, let's go." Buffy started pulling her hostage again.

"You know, I'm sure this kind of treatment violates several key statutes of the Kyoto Treaty."

"Really?" Xander scoffed. "And exactly how does our treatment of you affect global warming?"

"Umm... Uhh... Well... You just can't treat people like this."

"Shut it." Buffy ordered. "Or you'll be walking barefoot because I'll stuff both of your socks in your mouth."

That shut 'em up.

Xander wasn't sure if 'both' referred to both he and Willie or both of Willie's socks. So he shut up too. That whole 'willpower to follow through on her threats' was definitely there right now and he wasn't about to antagonize her further at the moment.

* * *

"Are you sure you're up for this?" Giles asked Xander gently when he and Willow had arrived.

"I've fought-"

"You _remember_ fighting." Willow corrected curtly. The first words she'd spoken to him in far too long.

"I remember fighting hurt much worse than this." Xander finished.

"But you were Immortal then. You aren't now." she reminded.

"I'll be stiff and slightly slower to react to threats from my right side. But since that's my sword hand, it still looks more threatening. Most of my kills will come from the stake. I'll be fine." he insisted, more to Buffy and Giles than Willow.

"If they had enough vamps to take Angel, I can't afford to let him sit out if he's okay to fight." Buffy insisted.

"And what about me?" Willie asked from the tree he'd been tied to.

"You are going to stay right here and not warn anyone that we're coming." Buffy said with mock cheerfulness. "Because if you warn them, then applesauce will be the toughest food you'll ever be able to drink ever again. Capiche?"

Willie swallowed and ran his tongue unconsciously over his teeth. "Yeah, I got you, Slayer."

* * *

As they neared the lobby just outside the sanctuary it was clear that this wasn't going to be easy. There were over a dozen vampires blocking their path. And a few feet in front of them, a small, wicker end table with a half-gallon of organic apple juice and an unopened package of Double-Stuf Oreos. _Only in California,_ Giles mused, _would it matter that the apple juice that you were going to imbibe with your Oreos, be organic._

At the head of the vampires stood the vampire formerly known as Ford. "Hello Buffy." he motioned to the snacks. "I've prepared a last meal for you that should be to your liking."

"Shove it, Ford. Do I even call you Ford anymore? You're not the Ford I knew."

"True. But the Ford you knew really died the day he found out he was dying. A new creature was born that day, that cheerfully walked into my immortal embrace." Ford said.

"Too bad you're not going to live past tonight." Buffy replied.

Ford sighed. "I was afraid you'd say that. I suppose there's no way to avoid it then. You want a fight to the death? Mano a mano? Let's step outside then." he motioned to some doors and started through them.

Buffy was about to follow after when Xander interrupted. "I'll handle him. You take care of these guys and get to Angel."

Angel! How had she forgotten about Angel? Her anger at Ford's betrayal had seriously clouded her mind. "Thanks." she said as she looked back at the gathered forces of darkness. She was suddenly a very pissed off Slayer and these vamps were standing in her way.

With a guttural roar she charged with stakes in each hand and Giles right behind her.

* * *

On his way outside, Xander took a drink of water from a water bottle in his coat before drawing his sword.

"A sword? Seriously? That's the best you can do?" Ford mocked.

Xander remained silent and ready. If he hadn't been injured, he probably would have attacked. But against someone like Ford, who had clearly had a fairly well thought-out plan for getting turned, it was best to just wait for him to make the first move rather than walk into a trap. So he waited. The nice thing about having 5,000 years of memories was that it showed him the value of patience the way nothing else could. And the 18 year old vampire, who was technically immortal, had been raised in an era of immediate gratification and had very little patience. Whereas the human who technically had 5,000 years of memories but might or might not be Immortal had plenty of patience. Thirty seconds felt like an eternity to both of them, but Ford broke first.

Ford attacked, differently than most vampires who liked to swing their claws. Instead he charged in like a football player, with his arms above his head, shielding his neck from Xander's sword. Xander swung.

At full strength, he almost certainly would have at least taken off Ford's arm and made a cut in the neck. But hampered by his injury, the blow made it through the ulna bone but got caught in the radius, the innermost of the two bones in the forearm. They both cried out in pain as they crashed together. Xander's sword went tumbling and he reached for two stakes to replace it while Ford was still on top of him. He didn't get to them in time though as Ford jumped back up off Xander very quickly and tore off his shirt which was smoking in the back.

"What the hell?" he yelled trying to cradle his injured arm and pat his smoking back which had been burned by the holy water Xander had been holding in his mouth until Ford tackled him. Ford looked at the man in front of him who was now holding two stakes and had already seriously injured him. He took off, leaving his and Spike's minions to Buffy's tender mercies.

Xander might have gone after him if he'd been uninjured and he didn't have friends fighting for their lives inside the church. Instead, he cursed himself for being foolishly noble and not pulling the Taser he'd gotten from the assassin cop right away. He tucked his stakes away, picked up his sword, took another drink of holy water, and finally pulled his Taser. Then he went back into the church.

* * *

Giles waited half a second after his Slayer charged in to charge after her.

The delay was intentional. His swordsmanship had improved greatly since he'd started sparring with Xander. After all, he wasn't living in a vacuum and the practice had both gotten him back in fighting form, as it were, and actually improved his skills as well. Not as much as Xander, to be sure, but the boy had more raw potential than an over the hill watcher.

Where were we? Oh, yes. Charging into battle against over a dozen vicious monsters armed only with a sword and a couple bits of sharpened wood even though he was _not_ a mystically enhanced Vampire Slayer. His first slash with the sword decapitated two vampires at once who had been trying to encircle his Slayer. A crossbow bolt wooshed through the air nearby and dusted a vampire to his right. Ahead of him, he heard another vampire sent to oblivion by Buffy. But now the vampires had noticed him and Willow. And Buffy could no longer hold the attention of all the vampires still undead.

Giles' world narrowed down to the three vampires coming after him and he could spare only a passing thought for the two going after Willow.

He wished he could help her, but quite frankly, it was all he could do to stay alive against three vampires. A sharp sword was no fun to get poked by as the monsters found out for themselves, but what they really feared was the stake in his off hand. The one on the left tried an overhand slash, but he grabbed only blade for his troubles and Giles turned the block into an attack on the middle vampire's head, which had been much too close for comfort. The thing staggered back with a slash to his cheek, its preternatural speed allowing it to escape what should have been a sword thrust to his brain. Giles didn't know what damage that would do, but he doubted the vampire would like it very much indeed. The vamp on the right had also been attacking at the same time, but a feint with his stake had changed his mind, though Giles pulled the weapon back before it could be knocked from his hand.

And so it went for much too long by Giles' reckoning. He wasn't sure how long he could keep this up, training with Xander had improved his own endurance, but it surely wouldn't last much longer. He could already feel himself beginning to tire. So, when the front doors opened to reveal Xander striding back in, he took the opportunity to stake one of his distracted oponents. But it was then that his heart froze when he saw that Willow had been captured by a vampire.

* * *

When Xander stepped back into the church vestibule, the first thing he noticed was a vampire about to bite into Willow's neck. Upon seeing him and not Ford return however, the vampire got other ideas.

"Drop your weapons!" it ordered.

Xander didn't hesitate, he dropped his Taser and sword quickly though he continued walking calmly forward. He held his hands out to his sides, so he couldn't get to any of his other weapons quickly. But he didn't stop walking. 5 steps, 4 steps, 3 steps, 2 steps...

"That's close enough. Another step and I break her neck."

Xander stopped with his leg still in midair. He would have liked to be just a bit closer for this, but it would have to do.

The vamp looked down. "Put your foot- Ahh!" the monster cried out in pain as Xander spit holy water in its face. Well, in its face and Willow's as well, but that didn't have any effect on her other than making her wet and possibly cranky for spitting water in her face.

Xander dove forward while pushing Willow out of the vamp's grasp, pulled a stake, and dusted the thing all in one smooth motion. He didn't spare a glance for Willow or for Buffy as he turned and ran at Giles, he drew a second stake and double dusted the two vamps Giles was still fending off. He spared only a nod at the older man before turning again and racing for his sword. He didn't bother putting the stakes away, just tossed them aside for later. As he picked up his sword, he pulled a new bottle of holy water and charged at the group that Buffy was still dealing with. The circle around her was more spread out now, so when he splashed the water in a wide arc over them, most of them caught only a few drops. A few drops of holy water can be quite distracting for a vampire though, especially when they're not expecting it.

Xander only got one beheading before the rest of the vamps realized that the others they thought neutralized were not so neutralized after all. Buffy used the distractions of holy water and Xander's attack to good effect though and dusted two more herself.

The seven vampires left started to feel outnumbered at 7-3 odds. They didn't count the girl still laying on the ground as a threat.

Two vamps broke off from the group, one apiece to deal with each of the swordsmen. Xander flicked the mostly empty water bottle in their direction and smirked when a few drops hit each vamp and started smoking.

"Stop that!" one of the vamps ordered.

Xander looked over the shoulder of one of the vampires and tossed the bottle aside. "Don't have to. Buffy's done with your friends already."

It should have been plenty of distraction. Enough for him to behead the vamp before he knew what hit him. But either the vamp was smarter than most or he was just slowing down after a long fight and already being injured, he didn't know. But the vamp turned back around in time to duck the sword swipe. Between the injury he'd started with, Ford tackling him, and the exertions he had no business doing while already injured; Xander was unable to stop himself as he overbalanced from the swing. He found himself held tightly from behind by the vampire. Panic filled him as a cool breath tickled his neck. Despite 5,000 years of memories, he still felt he hadn't lived long enough. He glanced at Giles who was being driven back by his own opponent and didn't even realize what had happened to Xander. The last thought that went through his mind was, '_I wonder if I'll become Immortal after this? __I kinda wish I'd had time to run that test so I'd know._'


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16.

The last thought that went through his mind was, '_I wonder if I'll become Immortal after this? __I kinda wish I'd had time to run that test so I'd know._' And then he was falling. Not far. Merely too his knees as the strong arms that were holding him up disappeared in a puff of dust. He turned around and there was Willow, looking very fierce and holding a stake.

"I'm the only one who gets to kill Xander." she said wrathfully.

They looked at each other for a second before Giles joined them. "Is everyone alright?" he asked as he picked up Xander's Taser.

"Yeah." said Willow.

"I'll live." said Xander.

At that moment, Buffy dusted one of the last three vamps and the other two took off. "Let's go get Angel," she said seriously. "You guys coming?"

Xander shook his head and got to his feet with as much dignity as he could. "Yell if you need backup. Otherwise, I'm just going to sit and wait." he motioned to some wicker chairs that matched the table the Oreos and apple juice amazingly still rested on.

Buffy nodded and she and Giles disappeared into the sanctuary itself. Xander made his way stiffly over to the chair and collapsed into it. He was then looking out at Willow standing among the dust piles in the vestibule. "Thank you for saving my life." he said.

She looked up at him from contemplating the dusty carpet. "Thank you for saving mine."

There was a 'pop' sound from inside the church and a male voice cried out in pain but it didn't sound like Giles, so Xander didn't worry about it. "I didn't even get to use the Taser. I was looking forward to that." He gave Willow a small smile. "Sorry about spitting holy water in your face by the way."

She shrugged. "I'll live and I wouldn't have if you hadn't."

An uncomfortable silence reigned for a bit. "Could I ask you to gather up my stakes and water bottles? I'd do it, but-"

"You're already injured and had no business fighting this many vampires?" Willow finished for him slightly tersely.

"Basically, yes. But in my defense, I didn't expect there to be more than six or seven. I figured I would only have to deal with one or two. And then that ass-hat Ford had to go and tackle me like he still played football or something. Hit my head on the ground outside."

Willow took a half step towards him at that, then visibly stopped herself and pulled back her arm that had instinctively reached out to him.

"I'm fine. At least I was on the grass and not the sidewalk. No double vision, no concussion, just a bit of a headache. And he made my ribs worse."

Willow didn't know what to say to that, so she started picking up the two discarded water bottles and a few stakes, two of which were Xander's. "Here." she said as she handed them back.

"Have you ever heard of the Westermarck Effect?" Xander asked as he accepted the stakes. "I knew what it was, but I had to do a little research to find the name for it, so you could research it yourself. Shall I summarize?" At a nod, he went on. "Basically, young children who spend a lot of time together are... desensitized to each other and don't generally develop sexual attraction to each other later in life. I'm not sure why it only affected one of us, and I'm very sorry that it did. Because any neutral third party would certainly say you're a very beautiful young woman. But I can't ever be attracted to you sexually. My brain thinks of you as a sister and I can't ever change that."

Willow's eyes filled with tears that didn't fall. She turned away. "Thank you for explaining." she said with her back turned before she walked to the other side of the room.

A minute later, Giles opened the inner doors and walked out, supporting a tearful Slayer.

Surprisingly, it was Buffy that spoke. "We- we were too late. They killed him." she said sobbingly.

"But, we did get them in the end." Giles added. "It's over now."

"Mostly." Xander said getting stiffly to his feet. "Ford ran away, I wasn't in any shape to chase him." he explained briefly.

Buffy just nodded through her tears and went to hug the other crying girl in the room.

* * *

"You're back early." Chantarelle said as he entered their lair. She stood in surprise. "You're hurt! Where are the others?"

"Probably dust along with all of Spike's minions if the Slayer's backup all fought like that." Ford said.

"How many did she have?" Chantarelle asked.

"Just three that I saw. But I fought one of them 1-on-1 and he did this to me. Next time we either need to get her alone or have a whole lot more minions. Preferably both."

"What about the food?" she asked.

"It didn't look like they'll eat it. But poisoning the Oreos was always a long shot." He frowned. "Speaking of food, we got anything around? I could use a healing boost."

"That older, Asian lady might still be alive unless the boys drained her before they left." Chantarelle said. "Otherwise, there's some bags in the fridge."

Ford frowned. She was a smoker and he wasn't particularly fond of the taste of smokers. But beggars couldn't be choosers. He went to the back room to find some blood to drink.

If she was dead, he could always go out and buy some blood now. His deal with Spike had made them fairly wealthy. Not live-your-entire-unlife-in-luxury wealthy, but good enough for now. The downside was they he was now injured and very low on minions. It would be a while before he could strike back at the Slayer. And that friend of hers. He wanted that guy now too.

* * *

It was over a week later before Xander felt up to putting his potential Immortality to the test, mostly because he was finally healed enough that the testing would no longer hurt him. And so it was that he was in the science lab after school one day, masturbating into a glass beaker. Not his proudest moment and he hoped to god that nobody walked in on him right then. Luckily no one did and he was able to collect his sample in peace. He took a small drop of his specimen and placed it on a slide before setting the slide under a microscope.

Nothing.

He searched all over the slide. First frantically and then in a set pattern. Then he readied another slide just to be sure. Still nothing.

He didn't know what it was about Immortals or pre-Immortals that caused them to not produce sperm or eggs, but it was a fact that he'd known about since he'd become a doctor. Which was actually long before the so-called 'invention' of the microscope in the 16th century. There had actually been a Roman inventor in 200 BC that invented it first. He had, of course, wondered what his own 'seed' had looked like. Methos had seen that and compared it to his own way back then. The lack of 'seed' explained his own infertility.

Xander reeled with the news. He was a pre-Immortal. Either that or he simply suffered from Azoospermia but that affected slightly less than 1% of the male population. Theoretically, he could see a doctor about this. If they couldn't find a cause, then Immortality would be the likeliest answer. As it stood he couldn't think of any other test he could run himself that would tell him anything. So (very likely) at his first death, he would stop aging and would receive his Immortal healing. The slight ache still affecting his ribs wanted that healing now, but the rational part of his brain certainly didn't want to get stuck being 17 forever. The younger you were when you first died, the more you had to move around and change your identity as it was harder to hide your agelessness when you were young. A bigger and bigger problem as documentation for living in the world got more and more complex.

He thoroughly washed the instruments he'd used then he went to the library.

"Hey Amy. Will." Xander greeted the two women who were sitting and reading at the table. They both looked up and smiled at him. He was glad that Willow had made a 'new' friend, even if she was stretching the definition of the word 'new' since they'd both known her since kindergarten. Still, it was good that they were hanging out again. Amy, it turned out, was on her way to becoming a witch like her mother. Or very much _not_ like her mother, as she insisted. Jenny Calendar, their resident techno-pagan had rejoined the group since the fight at the church and was taking on the role of mentor to both of the girls, as it had turned out that Willow also had an affinity for the craft. She would likely be more techno than pagan, but it was a new interest, with new friends, and Xander heartily approved.

"Hey, Xan! Care to spar?" Buffy offered.

"Very much _no_, Buff." Xander shook his head. "Not all of us have Slayer healing. My ribs are still wishing I was Immortal right now."

He didn't bother hiding that feeling though he didn't share his recent test results. They had explained to Amy what had happened to them on Halloween and who they had gone as. It turned out that Amy had gone as a witch named Elphaba. Who, she explained, wasn't a bad witch, just a bit untrained and had taken the blame for some things she hadn't done. It had given her a bit of a short temper and a desire to take shortcuts, but Jenny was nipping both of those things in the bud.

Still, it seemed to have jump-started any latent magical talent she might have had and Ms. Calendar was insisting on giving her proper guidance and training. Which meant that she was spending a lot more time in the library with Giles and everyone else ever since Angel died. Which was apparently a switch since Giles' pet demon had possessed her, she had mostly shunned their group. Until she saw a bandaged Rupert and found out the story behind the wounds including the fact that the entire Scourge of Europe was finally gone, including Angel. She had insisted on playing nursemaid after that and had quickly reintegrated herself into the Scooby gang.

Xander walked through the front library to the rear stacks where he found several issues of the Sunnydale Gazette and a comfy chair to read them in and started reading. He knew Ford was still out there and likely would strike again. He was looking for clues that might tell him what the vampire was up to. Because of all the vampires they'd faced so far, Ford was the only one he knew of to successfully carry out a plan. And that worried him a great deal.

* * *

It was another week before Xander felt up to patrolling again. In the mean time, he'd used his recuperating time to make a couple more art deals and passed another tip onto Joyce. It wasn't going to triple her money like the last time, but high end ones like that were rare.

So he trained with Buffy after school that day just to warm up a bit and make sure he was really up for it. Then they set off for patrol together.

"How are you doing?" he asked sympathetically.

"I- I don't know. It hurts. I was sure that he'd be there forever and then he's gone, ya know?" she said.

"I really do." he answered.

"Oh. Yeah. I suppose." she tapped the side of her head.

"Methos lost a lot of friends that he thought would live forever. To the point where he swore off making friends ever again." Xander said. "It didn't last. Unfortunately, the only way to avoid pain in this world is to close yourself off from it. And then you're not really living, just existing."

"Close yourself off from the world? Like you closed yourself off from Willow?" Buffy accused.

Xander was unfazed. "Is that what you think?"

"I don't know." Buffy sighed. "It's hard to tell what you're thinking since Halloween. You used to be so open and now you're so guarded. It's hard to tell if you care for either of us any more."

"Of course I care for both of you. I'm doing all I can to help you both." Xander defended.

"Like what?" Buffy wondered.

"Well for Willow, I made sure she had _you_ to talk to, first of all." he said. "Then I kicked the hornet's nest for her and deliberately drew Cordelia's ire so she would be so busy plotting against me that she wouldn't have time to poke fun at Willow. And since Cordelia knows we've broken up, teasing her is doubly off the board. Thanks to the way she thinks, she believes that teasing Willow would actually be what I want right now. And since she's mad at me, that's the last thing she'll do."

"Wow." Buffy said. She hadn't realized that there had been anything beneath Xander and Cordy's newest spat other than their normal sniping.

"Methos' machinations turned towards a higher purpose." Xander gave a rueful smile. What he'd told her was only half of the stuff he'd already done. And he had more stuff planned for when the time was right. But if everything went as planned, his friends would never know about those. Then again, how often did things go to plan?

"And me?" Buffy asked.

"Hopefully, you'll never know." Xander smiled enigmatically.

"Xander!"

"Would it freak you out to know that Angel patrolled the sewer access tunnels closest to your house to make sure you'd never be attacked near your house?" Xander asked.

"What? I never-"

"Of course not. We do for those we love and hope they never know the true depth of our feelings. Because it might scare them." Xander said holding her gaze intensely.

"I thought you didn't feel that way about me any more?" he voice was barely a whisper. The look he was giving her made it so she could barely speak.

"I said I didn't feel _puppy love_ for you any more. I neglected to mention how I felt now." He still didn't mention it though his hands were now holding hers quite a bit more tenderly than Buffy would have expected if he just wanted to be friends. He suddenly dropped her hands though. "Sorry." he said sheepishly. "I forgot how soon it's been. I should never have-"

"No!" Buffy cut him off a little more forcefully than she would have liked. "It's okay." Buffy shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Listen. Why don't you come over. Mom's making meatloaf I think. And I still need to apologize to you in front of her about that whole 'dating my mom' fiasco."

"Why Miss Summers, are you asking me to dinner?" Xander smiled.

Buffy stuck out her tongue at him. "Just as friends."

Xander waggled his eyebrows at that but nodded. "Just friends."

* * *

A/N: Elphaba is from Wicked: The Musical and is based on Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Which are both retelling of the Wizard of Oz story from the Wicked Witch of the West's perspective. The musical didn't come out until 2003 but is much better than the book, so my Elphaba always comes from there. Do not own either.

A/N2: Thank you to yog for the idea about how to tell if he was a potential Immortal or not. I hadn't considered it at the time. I _had_ been planning on ending this story with Xander dying and not saying a word about whether he would come back until I started the sequel where we learn (shock and awe) that Xander is now Immortal. Blame yog for not letting me end it with a cliffhanger. I also wanted to point out that I really do read and take your reviews into account. If you have a good idea, I can and sometimes will change my entire story to fit your idea in. Just like this. So keep reviewing people.


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